Eskymos Rally To Tie Berkley At Chelsea Showcase

CHELSEA, Mich.---They were battered, bruised, and dog tired.

But the Escanaba High School hockey team dug deep and staged a late rally to post a 4-4 tie with the Berkley Bears at the Michigan Public High School Hockey Showcase.

By the time Saturday's game ended, the Eskymos were down a total of four players due to injury. So, Coach Matt Hughes went deep into his bench to get through much of the third period, and the Bears were cruising along with a 4-2 lead.

Then, with 5:30 left in the game, called time out. From there, the top ten players would finish out the contest. And it worked.

Garth Wickham scored a power play goal with 4:24 left in the game, and then Nick Aird tied it up with a top-shelf goal with 1:26 left on the clock. The result was a hard-earned 4-4 draw that left the Eskymos with two ties and a loss in the showcase.

"We were short on the bench a little bit," Hughes said. "Guys got into the game that don't usually play, and they held their own."

"So, that was really good to see," Hughes said. "We called that time out, and that was the plan about halfway througth the period. Call time out, give our guys some rest, put two lines together, and grind it out for five minutes. It was a great effort all the way around."

"We were getting tired," Aird admitted. "There was a lot of good competition down here. It was just a relief (to score the tying goal). All the hard work we've been going. We had three or four pipes this game, a lot of knobs. It just felt good to get one in."

The Eskymos were in a tough spot because injuries saered to pile up. Parker LaMarch was already out with concussion-like symptoms after taking a hit into the boards in Friday morning's game. Back-up defenseman Josh Nelson couldn't make the trip at all, and Blaine Borman missed his fifth straight game since being injured in Traverse City.

Then in Saturday's game, Colton Hayes broke his wrist and Jack Williams also suffered a hand injury in the third period. So, it was all hands on deck, and the kids responded.

"This was just a great effort by everyone on our team," assistant captain Charlie Zuidema said. "We knew what we needed to do coming into this big tournament...the showcase...and we made the opportunities count and put them in the net."

Hayes actually got the Eskymos on the board before he got hurt, scoring 5:51 into the game as the Eskymos controlled much of the first period.

But the Bears took advantage of an Eskymo turnover and tied the game late in the period. Berkley then took the lead just 37 seconds into the second period on an Ian Melrose goal. Zuidema tied the game at 2-2 with a power play goal less than a minute later, but Berkley regained the lead late in the period when Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine made three saves, but Zach Leonard scored on a rebound.

Early in the third period, Leonard skated right by an Eskymo defenseman and scored his second goal of the game, giving Berkley a 4-2 lead that looked like it would hold up, Until, that is, the Eskymos plotted strategy in that time out, and managed to get a tie.

"We got into a circle by the bench, and Coach Hughes said: 'this is your time to score a goal'," Zuidema said. "This is what your line has been waiting for. Nick got it, and I was right behind him. I was watching the whole thing. He went bar-down, and it was probably one of the best feelings in the world just to tie that team."

Escanaba's record is now 13-5-2. Berkley is 11-6-1 overall.

Saturday's game ended a stretch of five straight games against teams that are ranked in the Top 15 in the state in their respective divisions.

Three of those games came in Chelsea, where the Eskymos played three games in about 66 hours. The Eskymos rallied from two goals down in all three of those contests.

"It was a long, long weekend of hockey," Eskymo senior defenseman Matt Casey said. "We played a lot of hockey. We rallied at the end. We came together as a team, and we kept pushing. We got two goals out of it. It was an all-around great day of hockey."

Now the Eskymos will go back into conference play for their final two home games of the season: Tuesday against Negaunee, and Thursday against Kingsford. Both games start at 7:00, and they will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and www.rrnsports.com.

Also on Saturday, Marquette defeated Plymouth, 5-2, (pictured below).

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to hear the call of the final goal, post-game interviews, and Colton Hayes' player spotlight interview. Also, see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier.

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