GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Women's D1 Hockey Team enjoyed the three weeks off for the Holiday Break, with time to rest up for the remaining nine games of the regular season. They dive right back into play with a three-game weekend, the first being against Concordia-Ann Arbor. The Panthers had defeated the winless Cardinals in their first game of the season, and looked to repeat the feat.
 
Friday, January 11
Final Score: Davenport 23 – Concordia-Ann Arbor 0
Records: #15 DU (4-13), CAAU (0-11)
Location: Patterson Ice Center (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
 
The Panthers were buzzing all around the Cardinals' zone early in the contest. Courtney Mulligan struck first just a minute in, and then Jaiden Forrest tallied her 10^th of the season just minutes later. Shortly thereafter, Morgan Pippin banged home a rebound to put DU up three. Amanda Ballestero would score back-to-back goals for Davenport, before Olivia Rudberg tacked on a power play goal just passed the halfway mark. After Mulligan added another goal, Adriannah Letts scored her first of the season with the man advantage. With just a few seconds left in the period, Hailey Williams scored her first goal as a Panther to send the Panthers into the intermission with a 9-0 lead.
 
The second period saw more DU offense, as after Rudberg scored in the first minute, Tori Dubuc would tally her third of the season. A couple of minutes later, Caitlin Miscovich tapped in a rebound following a Forrest point shot for her first of the season. Pippin and Forrest would add goals just minutes apart to further extend the DU lead. Then, Ballestero and Pippin each scored their third goals to complete their respective hat-tricks. The period would round off with Mulligan and Laken Kunz adding goals for the Panthers.
 
Despite being outplayed by the Panthers, the Cardinals had a couple of good scoring chances by way of their leading scorer, Mira Rolin. Rolin had a few good opportunities in the middle stanza, including three breakaways, but Davenport's Julia Gaynor stood tall and held the Cardinals off the scoreboard.
 
The Panthers scoring in the final 20 minutes consisted of Pippin and Ballestero each scoring their fourth goals of the game, followed by Kunz adding two more for a hat-trick of her own. Zoie Amatore would round out the scoring with her first of the season, and Davenport would pick up their second win at home.
 
NOTABLE PERFROMANCES
Mulligan and Forrest led the offense once again for DU. Mulligan tallied eight total points, while Forrest furthered her team lead in scoring with seven points on the night. Including Mulligan and Forrest, six total Panthers had five or more points in the contest as Kunz, Ballestero, Pippin, and Rudberg all had their best outings of the season. Along with picking up her first shutout of the season, Gaynor picked up her first point as she was credited with the secondary assist on Dubuc's goal in the second period.
 
WHO'S NEXT?
The Panthers are right back at it with two games to wrap up the weekend against the University of Michigan. The Wolverines are 3-6 this season and are ranked #11 in the country. Davenport is 1-7-1 all-time versus Michigan, with the lone win coming on October 4 back in 2015. DU will host the first of two at Patterson on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Game two will be Sunday at the famous Yost Ice Arena with a 7 p.m. puck drop.

Story by: Tyler Kuehl

Picture credit: Alexis Hoffman