Eskymos, Copper Kings Battle To Tie In Colosseum

CALUMET---Matt Hughes got the strong start that he was hoping for when his Escanaba Eskymos faced the Calumet Copper Kings Friday night in the Keweenaw.

But the Eskymo head coach did not get the strong finish he was hoping for, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. It was Escanaba's fourth tie of the season.

"After having kind of a flat second period, the kids came out and worked hard in the third period," Hughes said. "They created some scoring chances. And in overtime, we pretty much controlled the play. We moved the puck around well, we just didn't generate any quality shots."

Escanaba got a goal from Hunter LaMarch 25 seconds into the game as he batted the puck out of the air and past Kings goalie Ian Carroll.

And the Eskymos took a 2-0 lead five minutes later as Chris LeMire won a face-off forward, and scored an unassisted goal.

The Copper Kings cut the lead in half with a power play goal by Rory Anderson late in the first period, and then tied the game on a Robert Erkkila power play goal in the second period. From there, both teams had chances, but could not break the tie.

Escanaba had plenty of chances to pull this one out. They were afforded a power play with four minutes left in the game, but could not mount much of an attack.

Then, early in overtime, the Copper Kings turned the puck over right onto LeMire's stick.

His shot to win the game, however, was stopped by Carroll. On the other end of the ice, Calumet's Ed Beiring took a bad hop off the boards and skated in on the Eskymo goal. He went to his backhand to try to win the game, but goaltender Jack Valentine said "no".

Escanaba had a fantastic chance to win the game as the Copper Kings took two penalties, giving the Eskymos a rare 5-on-3 power play for the final 58 seconds of the overtime period.

They had a couple of backdoor plays set up, but got no solid shots on goal.

"They kind of caught us off guard (on their penalty kill)," Hughes said. "They'd let us into the zone pretty easily, and then once we got into the zone, they were very, very aggressive. whether we were trying to work the puck down low or on the half-wall."

Hunter LaMarch earned the team's "Hard Hat Award" for his gritty play.

"That was a good goal 25 seconds into the game," Hughes said. "His baseball skills kicked in and he swatted that puck right into the net, and it caught them off guard. Punk had a great game. He sacraficed his body a couple of times. Took a high hit to the head, and then he took a puck off the neck. He just flat out played a very good game."

Escanaba outshot Calumet, 6-1, in the third period, and 28-24 for the game.

Escanaba finished in a tie for the fourth time this season, with the record now at 14-5-4. The Copper Kings have also frequently played extra time, having lost three games in the extra session and tying two others earlier this season. Calumet's record is 15-6-3.

The Eskymos face Hancock on Saturday at the Houghton County Arena. Faceoff is set for 1:00. The game will be broadast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear radio interviews with Coach Hughes, player Blaine Borman and student manager Jake Strom.

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