Marquette Redmen Capture Regional Hockey Title

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos taken by Micky LaMarch. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear post-game comments from Karson Krutina, Dylan Ziemke, and Marquette Coach Doug Garrow. Als0 hear Krutina's intermission interview.

ESCANABA---The Marquette Redmen scored three goals in a four minute span late in the second period to break a 2-2 tie and beat the Escanaba Eskymos, 6-2, in the MHSAA Division Two regional championship game Tuesday night at the Wells Sports Complex.

Nash Rippi scored twice and Ethan Phillips had a three-assist playmaker for the Redmen, who advance to the state quarterfinals on Saturday in Gaylord against Traverse City Central.
Marquette Coach Doug Garrow was not happy with his team’s play in the first period despite a 2-1 lead, and he let his guys know it.

“In the first period, I didn’t think we moved the puck very well at all,” Garrow said. “I went in there (locker room) and we talked about it. Our game all year long is getting the puck high, and we tried to concentrate on that for the second and third period."

"We use our D a lot because we have good defensemen who can get the puck through to the net. That’s our game. We want to get the puck to the line, go D to D, and once we started doing that, it helped us out a lot.”

Escanaba, playing all year with only 12 skaters and two goalies, managed to win 16 games and play the third-ranked Redmen to a draw for 29 minutes.

“We played a pretty good game, we really did,” Escanaba senior captain Karson Krutina said. “I mean, they had way more shots than us (52-17) and we couldn’t bury. But I think it was a great season. I had a lot of fun. One of my most-fun years of hockey, actually.”

“I think we did great,” Escanaba senior goaltender Dylan Ziemke said. “There were some spots were we did a little iffy and we went down a little bit, but for the most part, I think we played at their level.”

Nash Riipi put the Redmen on the board with a rebound goal at the 5:03 mark, but the Eskymos cashed in on the power play when senior Karson Krutina got the puck in the corner and passed to fellow senior Jayger LaMarch. He made no mistake as he smacked a shot off the crossbar and into the net.

But Marquette scored just 54 seconds later when Jace Moore slapped one from the far boards that got by Esky goaltender Dylan Ziemke, making it a 2-1 game.

In the second period, the Eskymos got another power play chance, and Gunner Bourdeau made a nice move through the Redmen defense, got it to Krutina, and he scored the power play goal at the 7:38 mark to tie the game at 2-2.

“Our special teams weren’t very good tonight,” Garrow said, noting that both Eskymo goals were on the power play and his team was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

But the Redmen got a goal from the point by Collin Nemecheck at the 12:02 mark, then 39 seconds later, Joe DiMattia just barely held the puck in at the line. He rifled a shot wide off the end boards, but Kody Moyer was there for the rebound and scored to make it 4-2.

Then with only 59 seconds left in the second period, Riipi scored his second goal, also from outside, to make it a 5-2 game.

In the third period, Jack Sides scored on a rebound early in the period to make it 6-2, and then Ziemke faced an onslaught from the Marquette offense as the gassed and dejected Eskymo skaters were on their heels. Ziemke stopped all 16 shots he faced the rest of the game, and none of them were cheap dump-ins.

“A team like Marquette, it’s hard to play against,” Ziemke said. “It doesn’t matter where they are (on the ice). Wherever they are shooting from, it’s not like they have weak shots. No one on that team has weak shots. They’re all hard, and accurate.”

At the other end, Wylen Cambensy had 15 saves for Marquette.

The Redmen improved to 21-5-1-0 on the season. Escanaba finished its season with a record of 16-10-0-1.