MD1 Clinches GLCHL Regular Season and National Tournament Bid with Sweep of Davenport
The MD1 team took on GLCHL foe, the Davenport University Panthers, this past weekend in a home-at-home series. The Bulldogs, who held first place going into the two game series, looked to sweep the Panthers, who held second place, to secure their seventh GLCHL Regular Season title.
The Bulldogs would first play host on Thursday night to the Panthers at Arrington Ice Arena.
Mark Fratarcangeli would get the Bulldogs going at the 3:18 mark of the first period, scoring off of assists from Cooper McLean and JP Grineau. The Panthers would score two in two minutes to tie the game and then go up by one. Marcus Rose would score to tie the game at 2 a piece at the 14:05 mark of the first period. Rose's goal would be assisted by Dominic Moore and Rainer Glimpel. After one, the two teams would be tied 2-2.
Joe Costello would give the Bulldogs the lead once again at the 1:55 mark of the second period, scoring off of a rebound. Brenden Stanko and Mike Finger would assist. The 3-2 score would hold through the second period and the Bulldogs would go into the third up by a single goal.
The Panthers would tie things up midway through the third period to send the two teams into a five minute three-on-three overtime. After no scoring during the overtime period, the game would go into a shootout.
Glimpel would net a goal in the first round of the shootout, scoring five-hole on the Davenport netminder while the Panthers would also score. Mike Barrett would turn away the next seven shots but the Bulldogs would fail to find the back of the net as well. Both Davenport and Cooper McLean would net goals in the eight round of the shootout. Barrett would stymy the ninth Davenport shooter and Manny Silverio would net the go ahead goal in the ninth round of shootout, on the eighteenth shot between the two teams, to end the game with a victory for the Bulldogs.
Final score Thursday night would be 4-3 in favor of the Bulldogs and Barrett would pick up the win in net, stopping 31 of 34 shots along with the 7 saves in the shootout.
The Bulldogs would then travel to Grand Rapids to take on the Panthers on the road on Saturday afternoon to complete the series.
Saturday afternoon's game would undoubtedly be the most back-and-forth scoring game of the season, as the two teams traded off goal after goal up until the final thirty seconds of the game when the Bulldogs would score the game winner with 25 seconds remaining.
Final score Saturday afternoon would be 8-7 in favor of the visiting Bulldogs with Mike Barrett once again skating away with a win between the pipes.
With the win, the Bulldogs clinch the GLCHL Regular Season title, their seventh in team history. The Dawgs will play host to the GLCHL Playoffs in three weeks and hold the #1 overall seed heading into the final two weeks of the season. With the regular season title, the Bulldogs clinch a bid to the 2019 ACHA National Tournament in Dallas, Texas at the end of March where they look to defend their National Championship Title.
