Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The men's hockey team took on cross-town rivals Davenport this weekend for a pair of games between Top-25 teams. The Saints came away with a split, with each team claiming victory on their opponent's home ice. The Saints are now 13-11 on the season.

On Friday night, the #21 ranked Saints hosted the #8 ranked Panthers. AQ jumped out to an early 2-0 lead just six minutes into the game, scoring twice in a 35 second span. Kyle Truax opened the scoring for AQ, with Trent Kulczyk and Brandon Schwandt adding assists on the play. Alex Klekotka quickly followed that up with a goal of his own just moments later, with Nick Long and Mason Stewart. The visiting Panthers would counter, scoring two goals of their own to close the period with the score tied 2-2.

The Saints again would score two goals in quick fashion, both coming in the first 90 seconds of the second period to take a 4-2 lead. Russell Shengulette picked up a loose puck in front and deposited it behind the Panther keeper, and then Truax once again lit the lamp after a tremendous individual effort. Unfortunately for the Saints, the Panthers would again take the punch and respond, scoring three in a row to close the period up 5-4. Davenport would add a fourth straight goal to take a 6-4 lead midway through the third. Aquinas countered with a Mason Stewart goal, assisted by Brandon Rozema and Mike Curran to cut the deficit to just one, but Davenport added an empty net goal to put the game out of reach in the closing moments. Goaltender Nick Ottenbacher made 34 saves on the night for the Saints in a losing effort. 

The next night, the Saints and Panthers battled again, this time in the Panthers' barn. The Panthers struck first, but Aquinas countered just minutes later with a Nick Stockert goal, assisted by Ryan Wolfe and Mike Curran. A powerplay goal by the Panthers gave them a 2-1 lead headed into the first intermission, and a goal early in the second grew the Panther lead to 3-1. Alex Klekotka cut the lead back down to one with his second goal of the weekend, assisted by Shengulette and Nick Long. Davenport scored again midway through the second to take a 4-2 lead, but from there on it was all Saints. 

Ryan Wolfe scored late in the second- period to make it 4-3, and Kyle Truax tied things up with a goal 7:29 into the third. Trent Kulczyk and Connor Barta had the assists on Truax's third goal of the weekend. Kulczyk then found the back of the net four minutes later for the eventual game-winner, a power-play goal assisted by Brandon Rozema. The Saints defense in front of goalie Roman Malkov, who made 25 saves on the day, held strong for the final eight minutes to give the Saints another big ranked win . Aquinas, in the midst of three straight weekend series against Top-10 teams, has now gone 2-2 against Indiana Tech and Davenport to kickstart the march to an ACHA Nationals bid. The Saints take on WHAC opponent UM-Dearborn next weekend in a pair of contests.