Wunder OT Goal Leads Eskymos Past Copper Kings

WELLS---Levi Wunder scored 24 seconds into the overtime period to help the Escanaba Eskymos beat the Calumet Copper Kings, 4-3, Friday night, at the Wells Sports Complex.

Wunder's goal was his second of the night, and was his 77th point of the season. And it saved the Eskymos from losing yet another game while blowing a third period lead.

"I had it set in my mind that we're not going to let another one slip away from us like we did up in the Armory (a 4-3 overtime loss after leading 3-0)," Wunder said. "I am real proud of how my team played tonight. We worked real hard the whole game. We had a couple of letdowns there on the (penalty kill), but I thought it was a pretty good game."

Wunder's goal capped a wild finish to a game that started with the Eskymos taking a 2-0 lead, and then hanging on at the end to at least get the game into an overtime period.

In the first period, Wunder got his team off to a good start when he scored off a feed from Nick Aird just 3:43 into the game.

Then, with just over two minutes left in the first period, Chris LeMire won a "wall battle", made a nice move on the Calumet defenseman, moved the puck around him, and scored a "top shelf goal" to make it a 2-0 Escanaba lead.

Pretty goal for Chris LeMire makes it 2-0.

"We caught them changing, so we just fired it up the boards," LeMire said with a grin. "Garth (Wickham) passed it up to me and we had a little battle on the boards. And then, I just went right around the defenseman and scored."

The Eskymos outshot the Copper Kings, 10-3, in the first period, but in the second period, Calumet dominated. In the first nine minutes of the period, the Copper Kings outshot the Eskymos, 17-1. But goaltender Jack Valentine was sharp, stopping them all.

Jack Valentine #1 star interview

"It was a pretty good night," Valentine said. "It was a lot more hectic than the first period. It probally quadrupled the shot clock from the first period. I don't know. I just found a way to make the puck not go into the net."

"Extra pats on the back for him, you know, standing tall for us," said Wunder, the team's captain. "He made tons of incredible saves. He really kept us in it."

And so Valentine kept it a 2-0 game entering the third period, but the Eskymos went into the penalty box and the Copper Kings made them pay.

And all four times the Eskymos went shorthanded, it was Calvin Pinar who went into the box. That took the team's most experienced defenseman and penalty-killer off the ice, and Calumet pounced on it.

Maxx Frederickson put Calumet on the board with a shot past a screened-out Valentine at the 3:36 mark. The Eskymos got that goal back, however, as LeMire caught up to a loose puck and whipped it past Calumet goaltender Ian Carroll to make it 3-1.

But less than a minute later, the Copper Kings got another power play, and Tyler Loukas rifled it home after a faceoff win by Evan Billeck. With six minutes left in the game, Pinar went into the box for the fourth time, and Calumet took advantage again, as Loukas scored his second straight goal. With 5:44 left in the game, it was a 3-3 tie.

Calumet continued to throw everything at the Eskymos, with Valentine holding down the fort with several big saves. One was a poke-check of a point-blank chance that sent Calumet's Robert Erkkila hurling high into the air near the goal mouth.

Huge save Jack Valentine.

"I was just coming down from the corner on the boards, and he made a move and got around me a little bit," Valentine said. "I just didn't want to him to get behind me because he had a wide-open net. So, I just kind of stook my leg out."

With 1:16 left in the game, Calumet thought it had taken the lead on a goal by Ed Beiring. But the officials ruled that the net had come off of its pegs (something that happened numerous times in the game) before the goal was scored.

The Calumet bench was furious at the call, but the call stood.

Then, moments later, Wunder got loose in the neutral zone and Loukas took him down.

The penalty gave the Eskymos a power play for the final 48 seconds of the third period, but Escanaba did not score, even though Wunder rang one off of the crossbar in the closing seconds.

"I put my hands up because I thought it went in," Wunder said. "But it went off the crossbar."

As the game went to overtime, the thoughts of four other games ending in a loss after the Eskymos held late leads had to go through everyone's minds. But Wunder says that he kept confidence in his team, and was determined to score the overtime goal.

And he did, after D-to-D passes from Paul Carne and Pinar. Eskymos win.

Levi Wunder wins the game in overtime.

"Calvin made a great pass to me, cross-ice, in their zone," Wunder said. "I saw that top corner! There's not a feeling like it. To win a game, for my team, is incredible. They bust their butts every day in practice for me, and I bust it for them. We work together. We're like a family. To be the guy who puts the puck in the net, it just feels great."

Wunder had two goals and an assist, while LeMire scored the other two goals.

Levi Wunder scores OT winner!

Calumet outshot Escanaba, 33-23, including 30-13 afer the first two periods. But Valentine made 30 saves for the win. Carroll had 19 saves in the Calumet net.

Calumet fell to 8-15-0 on the season, with home games on Saturday against Negaunee next Thursday against Marquette, before the Division Three regionals begin.

Escanaba (14-9-1) hosts Hancock Saturday afternoon to close the regular season. Game time is 1:00. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com, starting at 12:45 p.m.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see the videos and photos taken by Mike Dagenais, and to hear radio replays, 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