Eskymos Roll Past Miners For Fifth Straight Victory

NEGAUNEE---The game was over almost before it began.

The Escanaba Eskymos took advantage of an inexperienced Negaunee Miners team and rolled to a 13-0 victory Monday night at the Negaunee Ice Arena. The game was called after two periods of play by the mercy rule. Escanaba has now won five straight games.

Escanaba scored three goals in the first 4:29 of the game, and that allowed Coach Matt Hughes to freely substitute all of his players, both offensively and defensively.

"We got off to a good start and we were able to shake up the lines a little bit," Hughes said. "We got everybody some playing time. Some guys who usually don't get on the power play played on the power play, and killed penalties. It was an all-around team effort."

Dylan Gauthier scored the unassisted goal against freshman goaltender Nolan Corwin just 62 seconds into the game, and two minutes later, Charlie Zuidema skated by his man and shot one home for a 2-0 lead.

Then 84 seconds after that goal, Chris LeMire scored his seventh goal of the season, and then two minutes later, Calvin Pinar connected on the power play.

It was a 4-0 game less than seven minutes into the contest, so the lines got interesting.

The team's only rookie, Blaine Reinhart, almost scored his first Eskymo goal but settled for an assist as teammate Blaine Borman tipped it in to make it a 5-0 game.

"It was close," Reinhart said. "I passed the puck back to Matt (Casey), and Matt had a nice shot on net. And Borman tipped it. These are the type of games where you've got to stick to the fundamentals. I knew coming into the season I wouldn't get much playing time, being the rookie, so you just have to make the most of it."

The as the clock wound down, Brendan Sliva scored his first Eskymo goal.

"I really don't know how it went in," Sliva said. "I was on the ground, and it kind of just popped in. I felt pretty good. I just tried to do what I could when I could."

Eskymo back-up goalie Brodie Goddard earned his first Eskymo shutout by stopping 19 shots. His best came in the first period with Negaunee on a long power play. Goddard made the first save, then dove across the goal mouth to stop the rebound shot.

The Miners thought they scored, and the goal horn went off. But, alas, no goal.

"I just saw a shot come from the blue line," Goddard said. "I just kind of tried to do what I could to stop it. And my rebound kicked out back door. I just saw there was a Negaunee there, so I just did whatever it takes to stop it. Throw some hands out there."

"From the bench, it looked like it went in," Hughes said. "Just the way the angle was, and the horn went off. I was ready to get my next line ready one of the referees says 'no goal, coach, the faceoff's down there'. Yeah, Brodie made some big saves."

Hunter LaMarch had two goals and added two assists for the Eskymos, who outshot Negaunee 40-19, including 21-5 in the second period.

Corwin stopped 13 of 19 shots for the Miners, and back-up Anthony Hammermaster stopped 14 of 21 shots.

Casey had a three-assist "playmaker" on defense, while Colton Hayes added a goal and two assists. Pinar had two goals, and Garth Wickham had a goal and an assist.

Escanaba improved to 5-1 on the season. Negaunee fell to 0-7.

The Eskymos host Hancock Saturday afternoon at 1:00. Catch the broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to listen to post-game interviews.

Escanaba 13, Negaunee 0

First Period
ESC 1-0: Gauthier (una) 1:06
ESC 2-0: Zuidema (Gauthier) 3:05
ESC 3-0: LeMire (Hayes, Borman) 4:29
ESC 4-0: Pinar (Aird, Wickham) 6:58 PPG
ESC 5-0: Borman (Reinhart, Casey) 13:52
ESC 6-0: H. LaMarch (P. LaMarch, Aird) 15:28

Second Period
ESC 7-0: Hayes (Zuidema) 2:25
ESC 8-0: H. LaMarch (Aird, Casey) 3:20
ESC 9-0: Wickham (Schwalbach) 4:19
ESC 10-0: Pinar (Hayes, Egner) 6:16
ESC 11-0: Schwalbach (H. LaMarch) 6:51
ESC 12-0: Carne (Williams, Casey) 11:22
ESC 13-0: Sliva (H. LaMarch) 16:45

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

11/20	7:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	1 - 2 (L)	0-1-0

11/21	1:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	7 - 2 (W)	1-1-0

11/24	7:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	3 - 2 (W)	2-1-0

12/1	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	3 - 2 (W)	3-1-0

12/5	5:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	1 - 0 (W)	4-1-0

12/7	7:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	13 - 0 (W)	5-1-0

12/12	1:00 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 5 (L)	5-2-0

12/18	5:00 PM	at Midland Dow High School	1 - 3 (L)	5-3-0

12/19	12:00 PM	at Midland Chemics	5 - 3 (W)	6-3-0

12/30	7:00 PM	Painesdale-Jeffers Jets	8 - 1 (W)	7-3-0

1/3	1:00 PM	Cheboygan Chiefs	8 - 0 (W)	8-3-0

1/8	7:30 PM	Central Algoma, Ontario	4 - 1 (W)	9-3-0

1/9	1:00 PM	Central Algoma, Ontario	9 - 2 (W)	10-3-0

1/15	4:00 PM	Macomb Dakota	5 - 4 (W)	11-3-0

1/16	12:30 PM	Grand Haven High School	10 - 0 (W)	12-3-0

1/19	7:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	2 - 0 (W)	13-3-0

1/21	7:00 PM	Calumet Copper Kings	2 - 4 (L)	13-4-0

1/28	6:00 PM	at Chelsea Bulldogs	3 - 3 (T)	13-4-1

1/29	10:00 AM	at Romeo High School	3 - 5 (L)	13-5-1

1/30	12:00 PM	at Berkley-Ferndale United	4 - 4 (T)	13-5-2

2/4	7:00 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	4 - 1 (W)	14-5-2

2/13	1:00 PM	at Houghton Gremlins	3 - 3 (T)	14-5-3

2/19	5:00 PM	at Calumet Copper Kings	2 - 2 (T)	14-5-4

2/20	1:00 PM	at Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 3 (L)	14-6-4

2/25	7:30 PM	Negaunee Miners	8 - 3 (W)	15-6-4

3/1	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	1 - 2 (L)	15-7-4