Wunder, Aird Help Eskymos Soar Past Jeffers Jets

WELLS---The Escanaba Eskymos broke a two-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the Painesdale-Jeffers Jets Friday night at the Wells Sports Complex.

Escanaba scored four goals in the second period to break open a close game.

Levi Wunder scored three goals and added three assists, while Nick Aird scored twice and added four helpers.

Chris LeMire had two goals and an assist. Hunter LaMarch and Garth Wickham also scored to help the Eskymos improve their season record to 6-2-1.

Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced to earn the win.

Brendan Middleton had a pair of goals to lead the Jets, who fell to 5-3-2 on the season.

Nick Harris also scored for the Jets. Goaltender Brendan Sullivan faced 32 shots, and made 25 saves, before being pulled after Escanaba scored its seventh goal.

Backup goalie Trevor Lowney finished the game for Jeffers, stopping 15 of the 17 shots he faced. In the contest, Escanaba outshot Jeffers, 49-31.

Nick Aird Goal makes it 2-1.

"It was a great game," Aird said. "Me and Levi found each other, for sure. Wunder, he's amazing. He's always finding the open ice, and we just worked together really well. I was seeing the ice good tonight."

LeMire put the Eskymos on the board just 1:42 into the game as he came in on a 2-on-1 break and beat Sullivan cleanly. But later in the period, Anthony Harris passed to Nick Harris for the top-shelf goal to tie the game at 1-1.

"It was just me and the goalie," LeMire said. "I saw the open shot, and I took it."

Brendan Middleton scores for Jeffers

Escanaba had the answer just 19 seconds later as Aird scored off of a set-up by Wunder, and so the Eskymos had a 2-1 lead.

Jeffers came back late in the period as Middleton lofted a shot that beat Valentine blocker-side, tying the game at 2-2.

But Escanaba had the answer again, this time 23 seconds later, as LaMarch scored in his first game back after missing a month with a concussion. It was the second time in the period that the Eskymos managed to get the equalizer after being scored upon.

"That was big," Hughes said. "It was important to get those back. But as a coach, you know that the kids are capable of playing better defense than that. It was just some mental errors."

"One time, we pinched (on defense) and didn't have a third guy high in the zone. But we were able to recover by putting the puck in the back of the net."

For LaMarch, it was his first time out there after being injured Nov. 25 at Kingsford.

"It wasn't too bad for the first couple of shofts, but as the game went on, I kind of started to get tired," LaMarch admitted. "I haven't been able to get back into it all yet."

And what about his goal? "Ah, just a back door, easy goal," LaMarch smiled.

Chris LeMire scores pretty goal in 2nd period

The prettiest goal of the season, perhaps, came early in the second period as LeMire made a move on the Jeffers defenseman and scored his second goal of the game.

"I just saw his feet wide open," said LeMire, who was picked the game's #1 star. "So, I tried to get that open more. I went through his legs and just shot it and scored."

"He had a great game," Hughes said of LeMire. "He's been working hard all year. He sees the ice well, can make plays happen, and he can obviously shoot the puck well."

"Chris had a big night for us," Hughes continued. "That whole line: him, Charlie Zuidema and Hunter LaMarch played very well together. That was their first time playing together this year."

That goal put the Eskymos in front, 4-2, and the rest of the period was the Levi Wunder-Nick Aird Show, as they combined to score three straight goals to make it a 7-2 game. Wunder scored all three, with Aird assisting on them all.

The goal that made it 6-2 was a blast from Wunder after Aird cleanly won the offensive zone faceoff. "I won the draw and sent it right back to him," Aird said. "Then just a one-timer. That was a set play from practice. So, it worked out pretty good. Wunder's got an amazing shot."

Middleton's second goal of the game cut the Eskymo lead to 7-3 in the third period. But Garth Wickham scored for the Eskymos after Wunder's shot hit the crossbar and bounced right to him. Aird closed the scoring with a goal with 2:45 left in the game.

Hayden Haslow big hit

On the bench, Jets Coach Dave Bekkala implored his guys to keep fighting, so that they would not suffer the embarrassment of being mercied. The Jets accomplished that.

The game was unique in that there was only one penalty called all night: an elbowing minor against Zuidema that gave Jeffers the game's only power play.

"The refs were good tonight," Aird said. "It was a pretty clean game, for how much scoring we had. I have to give it to them (Jeffers). I know when you get down by that many (goals), you can get frustrated. But they did well. No one likes to see that (chippy play). No one wants to get hurt or get a misconduct, so that was good."

Brendan Sliva Player Spotlight Interview

The two teams will play again Saturday afternoon at the Wells Sports Complex. Game time is 1:00. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

There will be two Eskymo Alumni Games held after Saturday's Eskymo-Jeffers rematch.

The first game, at 3:30, is for players from EHS Classes 1985-2002. The second game, at 5:00, is for the younger guys (Class of 2003-2014). Admission is free for the games.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos taken by Mary Gauthier, videos taken by Mike Dagenais, and listen to radio replays and interviews.

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