GAYLORD---They just stood there on the ice. Stunned. A feeling of disbelief. Could it really be all over, just like that?
 

After all of the ups and downs the Escanaba Eskymos have faced this hockey season, every boy truly believed that after upsetting Marquette in the regional semifinals, the hockey gods were finally smiling on them.

And when the boys rallied from two goals down Sunday in the regional championship game, well, that just reinforced the confidence that somehow, someway, this team would find a way to pull out a dramatic win over the Traverse City Central Trojans.
 

Traverse City player falls over as Nick Weinert laughs.

But the Trojans scored just 23 seconds into the overtime period, and the Eskymos were dealt their most heartbreaking loss of the season, 3-2, sending the Trojans...and not the Eskymos...into the Division Two state quarterfinal round. It was Escanaba's fourth loss in overtime this season.
 

And this one came after the Eskymos sat for 44 hours in a Gaylord hotel, arriving on Friday ahead of a nasty snowstorm that forced the game to be moved from Saturday to Sunday. Traverse City Central chose not to travel to Gaylord ahead of the storm on Friday, and was unable to make the trip on Saturday due to two feet of snow that paralyzed their city.

"Two days sitting in a hotel waiting for this game, trying to get the emotions back, well, that was tough," Eskymo Coach Tim McCarthy said. "We had a terrible first and second period. We got the puck down there, but things just didn't work or bounce our way."

Cooper Macdonell scored the game winner, just under the pad of Eskymo goaltender Austin Young. The goal ended a game that literally could have gone either way, as both teams had their moments when they controlled the flow of the contest.

"Escanaba is a very good team," longtime Trojan Coach Chris Givens said after the game. "They played hard the whole game. Their record (13-13-1) is deceiving. That's a good hockey team there."

Escanaba had the advantage in the first period, although McCarthy thought his team didn't do a good enough job of pressuring the Trojans, despite a 10-4 shots advantage.

One of those four TCC shots beat Young as sophomore Cam Givens gave his father, Coach Chris Givens, a birthday gift, by scoring with 3:08 left in the first.

In the second period, senior Connor Gartland gave TCC a 2-0 lead with a goal at the 7:09 mark. And it stayed that way entering the third period.

Young made a couple of nice saves early in the period to keep his team in the game, then Eskymo captain Dan Williams got the puck in his own zone and did his best impression of former NHL great Bobby Orr. He skated up the ice, made a move, and beat Trojan goaltender Mike Wittersheim with a sharp-angle shot that cut the TCC lead to 2-1.
 

Then, just over a minute later, Derek Chaillier took a shot from the point. There were several players scrumming in front of Wittersheim, and Ryan Meintz managed to get his stick on the puck for a redirection.

Traverse City argued that the puck was knocked in with a high stick, and it was close. But after the officials huddled, the goal was allowed to stand, and the game was tied at 2-2 with 9:22 left in the third period.

"I was very happy that we came out to start the third period with a lot more determination," McCarthy said. "We fought back to get that game into overtime. It would have been nice to not have to sit in the locker room again (as the Zamboni resurfaced the ice before overtime) after we had the momentum."

Then, late in the game, the Eskymos got into penalty trouble. First, Cody Cousineau was called for knee-to-knee contact, but TCC's Marcus Russell went off for tripping seven seconds later.

The real problem came later, though, when Nick Weinert got a delay of game penalty when he knocked the net off its moorings to prevent a goal against Young, who had come out to poke-check a puck and missed.

To make matters worse, Cousineau got called for roughing during that penalty kill. That gave Traverse City a five-on-three power play for 33 seconds, and with time running out. The Eskymos managed to kill off that set of penalties, and so it stayed 2-2 heading into the final minute.

And then, the Eskymos had a great chance to win it. John LeMire cleared the puck from his own zone. It hit the wall at center ice, then bounced to a streaking Nick Vandermissen as he crossed the Trojan blue line. The Eskymos' leading scorer had the game, and the regional championship, on his stick as he barreled in on Wittersheim.

Vandermissen skated in on the breakaway, deked the goalie, and tried to slide the puck into the net. With Wittersheim sliding over in desperation, Vandermissen's shot hit the inside of the goalpost. No goal!

"He's kicking himself on that one," McCarthy said. "It's things like that, shots that you want back. I know he's beating himself up on it. Their goalie did a nice job of taking away time and space, and he didn't give up a lot of rebounds. He knew what he had to do. And he did it."

And then, after the Zamboni came out to clear the ice, Traverse City got the early goal, sending the Eskymos to the heartbreaking loss.

It was the ninth time this season that Escanaba lost by one or two goals, and it was the fourth overtime loss. But McCarthy was proud of his team's playoff effort.

"Hats off to Traverse City," McCarthy said. "They came here flying. We did an awesome job against them, and we brought it to overtime. A couple of shots or other things that we should have had, but, it didn't happen. Nothing to be disappointed in. 

"The kids gave a great effort. It was my honor and my privilege to coach these guys this year. We went through a lot of adversity. And we competed with every team."