Negaunee Rallies In Third Period To Stun Eskymos

NEGAUNEE---The Negaunee Miners and not the same Negaunee Miners that struggled to win seven of their 52 hockey games the past two seasons. And the Escanaba Eskymos found that out the hard way Thursday when the teams met at the Negaunee Ice Arena.

Negaunee scored four goals in the third period to rally past a stunned Escanaba hockey team, 6-5, sending the Eskymos home with their most bitter loss of the season.

"We still need to play 51 minutes of hockey, or 17-minute periods of hockey at a time," Escanaba Coach Matt Hughes said, noting that his team gave up several goals either early or late in a period Thursday night. "We took a couple of shifts off, guys missed some key assignments, taking some guys sticks away (defensively)."

Mike Farley and Ryan Syrjala each had two goals as the Miners picked up their biggest victory in several years (19 straight losses to the Eskymos, going back to 2009). And Hughes says that his players made many mistakes that led to Thursday night's outcome.

"We had too many guys chasing one guy with the puck," Hughes said. "Not playing the body when we should have. Going for a poke-check. Taking a skate instead of playing the body and stopping on the puck. Those were all things that we talked about prior to this game, and unfortunately, they weren't executed on every shift."

Nick Aird gives Esky a 2-0 lead.

Escanaba was sluggish from the get-go, but had a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Levi Wunder and Nick Aird. But the Eskymos got in the penalty box, albeit on a few calls that Hughes described as "poor" and "marginal". Still, Negaunee took advantage with a power play goal from Syrjala 1:03 into the second period to make it a 2-1 game.

The Eskymos bounced back with a pair of goals. Dylan Gauthier make it 3-1 with a hard-working goal, as Jack Williams battled in the corner, and got it to Blaine Borman for a shot. Gauthier scored on the rebound, falling to the ice in the goal crease as he did.

And with three minutes left in the second period, it appeared that freshman Colton Hayes scored his first Eskymo goal.

It was waived off, however, because the referees ruled that the net had come off its pegs.

Escanaba went ahead, 4-1, however, on the next faceoff when Aird tipped in a Paul Carne shot for his second goal of the game. Escanaba was in control, and after beating Negaunee, 9-1, earlier this season, it would have been easy for the Miners to give up. But Negaunee Coach Josh Chapman's team didn't cave this time, and the Eskymos got into penalty trouble.

With Hayden Haslow and Aird both in the penalty box, Trevor Borlace scored on the five-on-three power play with 27 seconds left in the period to make it 4-2.

Levi Wunder scores for Escanaba.

The back-half of the power play carried over for the Miners into the third period, and they took advantage again, 43 seconds in the final period, on a Farley goal.

It was 4-3. Escanaba appeared to right the ship four minutes later as Aird completed his hat trick, as Wunder got his third point of the night with an assist (1G, 2A).

But the 5-3 Eskymo lead wasn't safe.

Wunder was called for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game (along with Negaunee's Ethan Ledford, who was shadowing Wunder all over the ice). It was 5-on-5 hockey, but Escanaba's best player was in the penalty box again, and Negaunee, again, capitalized on the opportunity.

Midway through the third period, Neal Violetta scored to make it a 5-4 game with 10:41 left in the game, and the Miners started to regain the momentum.

Just over two minutes later, Syrjala scored the tying goal after two of his teammates fanned on shots in front of Escanaba goaltender Brodie Goddard. With 8:26 left, it was 5-5.

Goddard made a huge glove save after a wild scramble in front of his net just over a minute later, and then, the Escanaba collapse was complete when the Miners won a wall battle and Farley scored his second goal of the game with 5:24 left in the contest.

Ryan Syrjala ties game for Miners.

"We knew that they would come at us hard, and that they would be physical," Hughes said. "It's the same thing they did against Kingsford on Tuesday (a 7-5 win). They were behind and they kept chipping away. They work hard. It's not like they're more skilled than us. They just work hard. And unfortunately, we got outworked on some shifts."

Escanaba outshot Negaunee, 42-37, but Anthony Moyle made 37 saves. Goddard stopped 31 shots in a losing effort for the Eskymos.

Escanaba had defeated Negaunee 19 straight times over the past few years, outscoring the Miners, 129-11, in those 19 games. The last time Negaunee beat Escanaba in hockey prior to Thursday night's game was on Dec. 8, 2009, when Negaunee won, 6-4.

Mike Farley game-winning goal for Miners.

Negaunee improved to 9-8-2 on this 2014-'15 hockey season. Escanaba fell to 13-9-1 overall.

Escanaba closes the regular season next weekend with a pair of home games. The Eskymos host Calumet next Friday (Feb. 20) and Hancock next Saturday (Feb. 21). Face-off Friday is 7:00, and Saturday at 1:00. Both games will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

The game against Calumet will also be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5) as part of the "Game of the Week" program.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear interviews with goaltender Brodie Goddard and Coach Matt Hughes.

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