Gremlins Strike Quickly; Turn Back Eskymos, 6-3

HOUGHTON---The Escanaba Eskymos traveled to the Copper Country for a second straight week on Friday, and unfortunately, the result was pretty much the same.

The Eskymos gave up three goals in a span of less than a minute late in the first period and lost to the Houghton Gremlins, 6-3, at Dee Stadium. The boys trailed, 4-0, after the first 17 minutes, just like they did in last Saturday afternoon's 7-3 loss at Hancock.

Houghton's Wyatt Liston scored on the power play midway through the first period, and it looked like the Eskymos might make it to the dressing room down just 1-0.

But Spencer Donnelly went in on a two-on-one and rifled a shot off the crossbar and into the net with 1:06 left in the period. It got worse when Cole Jepsen scored just 28 seconds later.

And it got very bad when Jonathon Bostwick shot one over the shoulder of Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine with ten seconds left in the period.

All of a sudden, the Eskymos were in a four-goal hole, and were outshot, 13-3.

"Any time you get scored on with a minute to go in the period, it's devastating for the team and for their confidence," Escanaba Head Coach Matt Hughes said. "Unfortunately, tonight, for us, it happened three times. It's hard to rebound from that, gather ypour emotions, and go out there and try to fight it off."

Matt Casey Player Spotlight Interview

But just like in last week's game, the Eskymos avoided being mercied by coming back with intenstity in the second period.

Levi Wunder ripped a top-shelf goal 2:03 into the second period, and then Jack Williams scored 63 seconds later to make it 4-2.

So, what did the coaching staff say to the boys to get them ready for a rally?

"Quit turning the puck over," Hughes said. "Start using the boards, start using the glass. You don't have to throw it through the middle all of the time. And just chip away. With our forwards, we are totally capable of scoring three goals in a period."

The Gremlins got one of those Eskymo goals back, however, at the 10:48 mark.

The Eskymos committed one of their many neutral zone turnovers, and Donnelly took advantage with his second goal of the game off a pretty 2-on-1 rush with Liston.

It looked like Houghton would go up 6-2 moments later as Cole Markham intercepted a bad D-to-D pass and went in on a breakaway. Valentine made the stick save.

And the Eskymos crept closer when Nick Aird scored with 3:16 left in the period, off assists from Chris LeMire and Levi Wunder. But the back-breaker for Escanaba came with 43 seconds left in the period when Reid Pietila dumped one in that caught Valentine sliding in the oppositie direction. That made it a 6-3 game.

Jack Williams goal.

There was no scoring in the third period, even though the Eskymos got three straight power plays. Escanaba was 0-for-5 with the extra man, after going 1-for-7 last week.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't capitalize on a few chances, and they did," Hughes said. "That's a little disheartening because we worked on it quite a bit (in practice)."

"On the power play, it was crunch time, not a time to try to get fancy with it. Get a guy in front, get a guy up top, and shoot. We didn't need to be pretty about it."

Wunder had a goal and an assist to improve to 30 points on the season.

LeMire had two assists, while Calvin Pinar and Garth Wickham also had assists.

Valentine stopped 25 shots as the Eskymos were outshot, 31-18.

With the win, Houghton improved to 7-0-2 on the season. Escanaba is 5-2-1.

The Eskymos are back on home ice next weekend with two games against Painesdale-Jeffers. The Jets are 5-2-2 this season.

Friday night's game starts at 7:00, and Saturday's contest begins at 1:00. Friday's game will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5) and WCHT-AM (600), as well as on-line at www.rrnsports.com. On Saturday, it's on AM-600 and at www.rrnsports.com.

FRIDAY'S OTHER U.P. GAMES---At a tournament in Cheboygan, the Kingsford Flivvers beat Kalamazoo, 8-3, and the host Cheboygan Chiefs beat L'Anse, 10-2, after falling behind 2-0...at a tournament in Big Rapids, Sault Ste. Marie beat the hosts, 4-2.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see pictures and videos taken by Zach Denome, and to listen to radio interviews.

Escanaba's Parker LaMarch (11) is shaken up after a hit during Friday night's game in Houghton.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

11/21	7:00 PM	Alpena Wildcats	7 - 1 (W)	1-0

11/22	1:00 PM	Alpena Wildcats	7 - 0 (W)	2-0

11/25	7:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	4 - 2 (W)	3-0

11/29	1:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	3 - 3 (T)	3-0-1

12/2	7:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	4 - 1 (W)	4-0-1

12/8	7:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	9 - 1 (W)	5-0-1

12/13	1:00 PM	at Hancock Bulldogs	3 - 7 (L)	5-1-1

12/19	7:00 PM	at Houghton Gremlins	3 - 6 (L)	5-2-1

12/26	7:00 PM	Painesdale-Jeffers Jets	9 - 3 (W)	6-2-1

12/27	1:00 PM	Painesdale-Jeffers Jets	5 - 1 (W)	7-2-1

1/2	6:00 PM	Cheboygan Chiefs	6 - 2 (W)	8-2-1

1/3	1:00 PM	at Pinckney Pirates	7 - 4 (W)	9-2-1

1/16	8:15 PM	at Bay City Central Wolves	4 - 2 (W)	10-2-1

1/17	12:00 PM	at Macomb Dakota	4 - 2 (W)	11-2-1

1/20	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	0 - 2 (L)	11-3-1

1/22	7:00 PM	at Calumet Copper Kings	3 - 4 OT (L)	11-4-1

1/27	7:00 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	5 - 2 (W)	12-4-1

1/30	7:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	0 - 4 (L)	12-5-1

1/31	1:00 PM	at Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	0 - 1 OT (L)	12-6-1

2/5	6:00 PM	at Novi High School	3 - 5 (L)	12-7-1

2/6	6:15 PM	at Woodhaven High School	3 - 5 (L)	12-8-1

2/7	2:15 PM	at Berkley-Ferndale United	6 - 3 (W)	13-8-1

2/12	7:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	5 - 6 (L)	13-9-1

2/20	7:00 PM	Calumet Copper Kings	4 - 3 OT (W)	14-9-1

2/21	1:00 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 4 (L)	14-10-1

3/3	7:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	3 - 0 (W)	15-10-1

3/5	7:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	4 - 2 (W)	16-10-1

3/7	1:00 PM	Bay Area Thunder Hockey	8 - 0 (W)	17-10-1

3/10	7:00 PM	Traverse City Central Trojans	7 - 3 (W)	18-10-1

3/12	5:00 PM	Livonia Stevenson Spartans	2 - 3 (L)	18-11-1