Byron Center, Mich. — In the third meeting this season between two in-city rivals, No. 23 Davenport got the better of the Aquinas men's hockey team on the Saints' home ice inside the Southside Ice Arena. The Panthers took a 2-1 season series advantage with a 6-4 victory on Friday night (Oct. 27).

Davenport (8-2 overall) also won the last matchup between the two non-conference foes, 4-3, on Oct. 4. Aquinas (4-9, 2-4 WHAC) claimed the the first meeting rather convincingly, 5-1, at home on Sept. 24.

The back-and-forth affair on Friday lived up to the hype and featured plenty of action with 10 combined goals and 13 total penalties. 

The Panthers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Jonathan Dubbink and Branwen Pollett in the first 10 minutes. Just over a minute after Pollett's power-play tally, AQ got on the scoreboard as Brandon Rozema helped Dylan Rumpke get his sixth goal of the season.

AQ's first goal also came with a man advantage. As did the Saints' second goal with eight seconds left in the first period. Rumpke and Christian Look provided the helpers for a timely Nicola Vogel strike to tie the game at 2-2 going into the first intermission.

Heath Drye didn't waste much time in giving the Panthers the lead back. He scored 17 seconds into the second period with Noah Bradburn on the assist.

Aquinas had one more punch in them halfway through the middle frame and scored twice in five minutes to take its first lead of the game, 4-3. Junior transfer Austin Gilmore netted the equalizer with 13:26 remaining for his first career goal with the Saints. Then, with 8:40 left in the second period, Rozema gave AQ the lead with his team-leading seventh goal of the season and 67th regular season career goal scored for the Saints. 

Xavier Erickson, Mitchell Hoon, Kirwin Johnson and Alex Johnson were credited with the assists on the two goals. AQ scored the two goals with just five total shots on goal in the period.

The Saints' one-goal advantage, however, didn't last. Davenport squeezed in a goal by Peter Stojcevski with 17 seconds left in the second period to knot the score up at 4-4 going into the second intermission.  

The score remained tied until 8:57 remaining in regulation. The Panthers found the game-winning goal off the stick of Dubbink before adding a last-minute empty-net goal by Kristers Klavins with 27 seconds left. 

The Panthers outshot the Saints in every period and finished with a 41-25 edge for the entirety of the game. AQ goaltender Max Johnston made 35 saves on 40 shots faced. Sean Andrus claimed the win for DU with 21 saves on 25 shots faced.

Aquinas concludes a rare one-game weekend with the defeat. The Saints are back in action next week with a two-game weekend series against No. 24-ranked Lawrence Tech. AQ will travel first to the Farmington Hills Ice Arena for Friday's game (Nov. 3) at 8 p.m. before playing the home leg at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 4) at the Southside Ice Arena.