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Gremlins Score Early, Often, In Win Over Eskymos
 WELLS---The Escanaba High School hockey team never could get out of first gear Friday night in their second match-up of the year with the Houghton Grelins. After playing the Gremlins tough in a 2-1 loss at Dee Stadium earlier this month, the Eskymos were outplayed for most of the evening Friday and lost, 7-2, at the Hannahville Ice & Turf in Wells. Chris Sliva and Garth Wickham scored Escanaba's only goals. But by the time the Eskymos got those two goals, the Gremlins had things well in hand. Clayton Sayen scored goals at 11:31 and 16:14 of the first period, and then early in the second period, Jacob Kruse scored through the five-hole of goaltender Brodie Goddard to make it 3-0. Kruse scored again (a short-side goal) at 8:08, making it 4-0. Things went from bad to worse for Escanaba as the second period continued. Houghgton senior Quentin Stachowiak scored his first Gremlin goal on a breakaway 62 seconds after Kruse's second gfoal, and then three minutes later, Ty Halonen smacked one through a screen to make it 6-0. Taavi Rajala scored the seventh Houghton goal with 2:15 left in the period. Escanaba got on the board with Sliva's shot with three minutes left in the second period. The Eskymos played much better in the third period, controlling the puck for more stretches than in the first two periods. Wickham's shorthanded goal with nine seconds left in the hockey game gave the Eskymos their second and final goal. There were only two penalties called in the game (besides coincidental roughing penaties on Houghton's Ronald Olson and Escanaba's Chris LeMire). Both of those penalties were called against the Eskymos, so Escanaba did not get a power play chance in the game. The final shots on goal were 23-8 in favor of the Gremlins. Kevin Bostwick, Dawson MacKay, and Justin Norkol all had two assists apiece. Houghton improves to 5-3-0 on the season, while the Eskymos fell to 2-6-0. In the junior varsity game, the Gremlins skated to a 6-2 win over the Eskymos. Escanaba hosts Painesdale-Jeffers on Saturday. Game time is 3:00. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Click the thumbnail in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to hear Friday night's player spotlight interview with Eskymo junior Scout Wunder. |
