Eskymos Finish 2014 With Victory Over Jeffers Jets

WELLS---The Escanaba High School hockey team closed out the 2014 portion of its schedule with a 5-1 win over the Painesdale-Jeffers Jets Saturday afternoon.

Levi Wunder scored a hat trick and added an assist, while Hunter LaMarch and Nick Aird each had two assists. But the game was played almost in slow-motion at times.

"There was not much energy at all," Eskymo Coach Matt Hughes said. "As a matter of fact, we touched base on that in between both periods. We needed to get some jump in our step. It was kind of a different atmosphere in here today.

"But we played good enough to win."

"The energy seemed to be low today and the hustle wasn't there," Wunder, the team's captain, agreed. "But fortunately, we got the 'W'."

Garth Wickham put the Eskymos on the board at the 12:21 mark of the first period with a high shot that beat Jeffers goaltender Trevor Lowney cleanly. Then, with just 32 seconds left in the period, Wunder scored on a low shot, with assists from Aird and Calvin Pinar.

The Eskymos took a 3-0 lead early in the second period on a power play goal by Wunder, off a feed from LaMarch. Lowney got a piece of it, but the puck trickled past him. Escanaba's lead grew to 4-0 when Chris LeMire appeared to fan on a shot, but he got just enough of it to get past Lowney. LaMarch and Wunder drew the assists.

Chris LeMire goal.

But then Aird was called for a five-minute major boarding penalty, giving the Jets a chance to chip away at their deficit.

And the visitors got on the board early in the power play. Lance Kangas's shot was stopped by Eskymo freshman goaltender Brodie Goddard, but the puck bounced off of his glove and Nick Harris scored the power play goal.

Since it was a major penalty, the Jets kept the power play, with the chance to inch even closer to the Eskymos. But then, a big mistake. Anthony Harris tried to get the luck deep for the Jets, but he threw it into Wunder's legs.

Levi Wunder shorthanded hat trick goal.

Wunder collected the puck, and skated up-ice on a shorthanded breakaway. He scored a pretty goal to make it 5-1.

"The shot went right into the center of my shin-pads," Wunder said. "So, I went through his legs, and at that point, it's a foot race. I pride myself in one-on-one foot races, and once you do that much (work), you might as well put it in!"

He did, with a double-deke move that proved to be a backbreaker for the Jets.

"I pumped him twice on the shot, and went left, and put it in," Wunder said.

Earlier in that second period, Goddard had the best of his 22 saves as he stopped the Jets' best player, Harris, on a clean breakaway.

"I just saw him coming down, and I got ready," said Goddard, the game's #2 star. "I got high in my crease, and read that he was gonna shoot. So, I just prepared myself."

Harris went to Goddard's blocker-side, but the freshman goalie stopped the shot.

"He played very well," Hughes said of Goddard. "His positioning was good. He made some big saves. The only goal they got was a power play goal, and that puck should have been cleared beforehand. No fault on him for that one. We lost a one-on-one battle."

Brodie Goddard #2 star interview

Later, it looked like Goddard would have to face another breakaway as the Eskymos turned the puck over at the blueline. But defenseman Matt Casey hustled back and made the play on the back-check. He was named the game's #3 star.

"I was just thinking to 'get back as quick as you can' , try not to draw a penalty, and try to get the puck away," Casey said. "That's the only thing you can do. I swept the puck away. It was a good backcheck."

His coach agreed.

"He worked hard to get back, and lifted his (Harris's) stick, and made a backhanded break-out pass to our guy," Hughes said. "It was transition play."

Escanaba outshot Jeffers, 27-23, but Hughes was impressed with the Jets' effort.

"They came out flying," Hughes said. "We told the boys that that was what they were gonna do. We made them mad last night, beating them the way we did (9-3). We knew they would come out hard. They were not gonna lay down and hand it to us."

Still, the Eskymos were the better team on the ice, even if not so energetic.

"I was impressed and satisfied with a lot of things we did," Hughes said. "We just need to eliminate some turnovers, and maybe have some better "support" in different areas of the ice."

Levi Wunder #1 star interview

Wunder ended up with four points, giving him 40 this season in ten games. He leads the State of Michigan in scoring, and has 199 careeer points in an Eskymo uniform.

Escanaba improved to 7-2-1 on the season, including 5-0-1 on home ice. The Jets fell to 5-4-2 overall. The Eskymos will travel to Michigan Tech University next weekend to compete in the Jeffers New Year's Invitational, but will not play against the Jets.

Escanaba will play Cheboygan at 6:00 Friday night, and then will take on Pinckney Saturday afternoon at 1:00. Both games will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Friday's game is also on WGKL-FM (105.5).

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos, and listen to radio interviews. Thanks to injured Eskymo Jack Williams for his help with the camera, along with Mary Gauthier.

Faceoff between Levi Wunder (21) and Jeffers' Brendan Middleton (18) on Saturday. (Jack Williams photo)

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