Live Scoring | Boxscore

NEWARK, Dela. - The Panthers posted a dominating first showing at the ACHA Division I National Championships by defeating #15 Rutgers University 12-1. Adam Kuhn (Southgate, Mich.) posted 4 goals in the contest, while Jonathan Juliano (Clinton Twp, Mich.) added 6 assists to lead DU.

The two teams played a tight first half of the first period; Rutgers even held the shot advantage until the Panthers came to life on a Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.) goal that beat the Scarlet Knight goaltender to the near side. Minutes later, a Phil Wendecker (Westland, Mich.) outlet pass found Kyle McDowell (Toronto, Ontario) that fed it over to Matt Morang (Dearborn, Mich.), whose one-timer missed the net. McDowell was able to pull the puck towards the goal line and bank it in off the back of the opposing netminder. The Panthers took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

The second period saw the Panthers pull away as Kuhn began the scoring, redirecting a Brojek shot for the powerplay goal. After a Sean McKenzie (Howell, Mich.) snapshot in the slot, Rutgers was able to find the board on a defensive miscue. Another Kuhn goal lifted the Panthers to a 5-1 lead after forty minutes.

The final period featured the DU route as Kuhn added two more goals, as did Morang (2), Brit Ouellette (Windsor, Ontario), Brandon Davis (Hartland, Mich.), and Ben Dykstra (Kentwood, Mich.).

Goaltender Joe D'Elia (Toronto, Ontario) earned the victory for DU as he stopped 22 out of 23 shots fired in his direction. The victory pitts DU against the University of Rhode Island Rams, the #7 seed, which took care of Penn State in a fierce 2-0 victory.

The Panthers will play again at 1:00pm with Live Stats available, along with a live broadcast, courtesy of fasthockey.com.