NEWARK, Del. –
Jonathan Juliano scored the game winning goal in overtime as the Davenport D1 Hockey team defeated Lindenwood University 3-2 on Wednesday night. The Panthers have now won four consecutive National Champions with the previous three coming at the D2 level of ACHA.
The first period saw the two-time defending ACHA D-1 National Champion Lions control the stats in terms of shots as they posted a 15-5 advantage but DU netminder
Phil Graveline (Marshall, Mich.) came up with a few huge saves to keep the game scoreless after twenty minutes of play.
The second period saw much of the same with neither team able to crack through but Davenport got a big boost when they went on a 5-minute power play with just over six minutes to play.
Unfortunately, the Panthers were unable to score with the extra man advantage but they got a nice feed from
Adam Kuhn (Southgate, Mich.) to
Jonathan Juliano (Clinton Twp, Mich.) with just less than a minute as Davenport took the 1-0 lead.
Opening the final period just twenty minutes away from their fourth consecutive National Title (three previous at D2 level), the Panthers controlled the puck for most of the time and seemed to have a leg up until a bad bounce of the skate of a DU defender tied the score with 11:00 to play.
Davenport stayed calm however and got the go ahead goal from
Kyle McDowell (Toronto, Ontario) on a beautiful setup from
Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.) just a few minutes later.
The 2-1 lead looked good heading into the final few minutes but with just over 2:00 to play, Lindenwood tied the score as a soft shot got behind Graveline and give the Lions some life.
Neither team posed any serious threat for the final part of the game as they headed to overtime. The last time DU played an overtime game in the National Tournament was in 2006-07 when they fell to arch-rival Michigan State in Fort Collins, CO.
With numerous chances for the Panthers in overtime,
Jonathan Juliano (Clinton Twp, Mich.) scored with just under 5:00 to play to give the Panthers the 3-2 victory. The win gives DU their fourth consecutive National Championship after winning the last three at the D2 level.
