Eskymos Top Flivvers In Special Teams Battle, 5-2

WELLS---In the end, there wasn't very much five-on-five hockey played between the Escanaba Eskymos and Kingsford Flivvers Tuesday at the Wells Sports C0mplex.

There was a parade to the penalty box that led to nine Kingsford power plays and five power plays for Escanaba. The Eskymos scored three power play goals, and then killed off several long Kingsford power plays late in the game to post a 5-2 victory.

Five different players scored for the Eskymos, including All-Stater Levi Wunder, who had three assists to go along with his second period goal.

"We spent a lot of time killing off penalties," Escanaba Coach Matt Hughes said. "Especially the five-on-three at the end. I thought the kids did a great job of killing that off, and keeping them to the outside, and getting pucks out."

Kingsford got the early jump when Eskymo defenseman Paul Carne was called for tripping two minutes into the game. Alex Wiitanen scored to give the Flivvers the lead.

Escanaba got the equalizer just over four minutes laterwith a power play goal of its own. Wunder patiently waited with the puck and got it to Chris LeMire for the goal on the back-door play. Calvin Pinar drew the second assist and the game was tied at 1-1.

Chris LeMire scores on back-door play.

Late in the first period, Escanaba took the lead as Pinar smacked one through a screen in front of Flivver goaltender Joe Berglund, so it was 2-1 after 17 minutes of play.

Kingsford started the second period with another power play as Wunder was called for slashing at the final buzzer of the first period. But the Eskymos killed it off, and then just over a minute later, Nick Aird was set up by Wunder for a nice goal to make it 3-1.

Aird deked the goaltender Berglund, and then scored on his backhand.

The Flivvers, however, went on another power play later in the second period and cashed in as Luke Wahoviak blasted one past Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine.

The game turned in the third period, however, when Wahoviak went off on a five minute major penalty for slamming Hayden Haslow into the boards. Escanaba didn't do much for the first two minutes of that five minute major, but finally cashed in when Hunter LaMarch tipped in a Pinar shot. Dylan Gauthier drew the second assist.

"You just have to stand in front of the net and take the shots that the guys are giving to you," LaMarch said. "Hopefully, you can get a stick on the puck, or a rebound will pop out. Your stick's on the ice and you're right there. We weren't getting much going, but we got the shot from the point and I just happened to tip it in."

Hughes liked the play of the #2 line, of which LaMarch was a member.

"They played hard, they supported each other well, and they were physical," Hughes said. "They back-checked. I thought that was one thing that we needed to work on. Backchecking with a purpose, instead of just backchecking 'just to get back'. You know, get your head on a swivvel, pick guys up. Guys without the puck are a threat, too."

Hunter LaMarch tip-in goal.

LaMarch, also known as "Punk", was given the game's #3 star.

"Punk had a great game," Hughes said. "He worked hard. He won some face-offs. That five-on-three power play (penalty kill) at the end. And he got a hard-working goal. Some guys don't want to go to the front of the net. He paid the price."

The Eskymos continued to apply pressure off the ensuing face-off, and Wunder smoked a shot under the cross-bar. The top-shelf goal dislodged the water bottle. It was 5-2.

But the game was far from over because the Eskymos were called for a series of penalties that the players and coaches thought were trivial infractions, at best. It all boiled over in the final four minutes of the game when Wunder was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and Hughes was given one as well on the bench.

Fortunately, the Escanaba penalty-killers were up to the task against a Kingsford team that appeared to be exhausted as the third period wore on. And Valentine made several outstanding saves, including one on Wahoviak on a back-door play in tight.

Valentine, who admits to letting in some weak goals in previous games, says that he feels more confident now. He says that he worked hard with goaltender coach Andy Johnson in the few days after last Thursday's heartbreaking overtime loss at Calumet.

"We weren't getting calls all night so we had to fight through it," Valentine said. "The defense did a good job clearing the shots out in front and I just did the best I could."

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"He did a great job," Hughes said. "He made some big saves for us, especially when we were shorthanded. And even-strength when they had some odd-man situations. He really came up big, and made some big pad saves for us. He's getting more comfortable out there. He's coming up big for his team and he's gaining confidence."

Valentine stopped 22 of 24 shots and was given the game's #2 star. At the other end of the ice, Berglund faced 30 shots for the Flivvers and stopped 26 of them.

"Pretty much the whole practice this week has been about (controlling) rebounds," Valentine said. "Before practice, he (Johnson) did rebound drills to help the goalies out. I think I'm just getting more confidence as the season goes on. I'm getting more games, more shots."

LeMire was given the game's #1 star, as he played well at both ends of the ice, in particular on the penalty kill late in the game as he dove to block Kingsford shots.

"It's always nervewracking because you always think there might be a guy open somewhere," LeMire said. "You're just looking for all the open guys and try to cover them to make sure they don't get a shot on. You just work as hard as you can to try to get the puck out. Do your best to help out the team!"

"He played his position well and was even helping out down low in the defensive zone," Hughes said. "He was the first forward back, hustling back."

Hunter LaMarch power play goal

Kingsford hadn't played a game in the past two weeks because of semester final exams and other scheduling difficulties. The Flivvers fell to 6-8-0 on the season.

Escanaba improved to 12-4-1 on the season, and will have two more games this weekend: at home against Houghton Friday night, and at Sault Ste. Marie Saturday afternoon. Friday's game will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5), WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Saturday's game will air on AM-600.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear 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