WELLS---Before the Escanaba Eskymos faced the Painesdale-Jeffers Jets in high school hockey Friday night, Jeffers Coach Dave Bekkala was worried about what Levi Wunder would do to his team.
After all, Wunder led the Eskymos to a mercy-shorted victory over the Jets last season.
Well, this time, Bekkala's Jets held Wunder in check for most of the first period, but then the Eskymo junior exploded for four goals to lead the Eskymos to a 5-2 victory.
Calvin Pinar also scored for the Eskymos, who improve to 6-3 on the season.
"He's got the natural ability to score," Eskymo Coach Matt Hughes said of Wunder. "He's got an eye for the net. He knows where to shoot on goaltenders to put the puck in the net. We had a lot of chances from the hash-marks right in on the goaltender."
Jeffers jumped off to a 1-0 lead as Drew Morris took the pass from Tyler Bailey and ripped one off the cross bar and past Jack Valentine just 4:27 into the game. And for most of the period, the Jets kept the Eskymos away from the prime scoring areas in their zone.
"They did a good job of putting a neutral zone trap on us," Hughes said. "So, we made a few adjustments, got the puck to the weak side, and finally started putting some pucks into the net."
Finally, Steve Wood found Wunder with a nice pass and Wunder smacked it home to tie the game at 1-1 with 43.6 seconds left in the first period. Then, with the Eskymos on the power play to start the second period, Wunder scored again, just 1:26 into the period.
Wunder says that he, and his teammates, wanted to prove something right there.
"I was a little upset," he admitted. "I have high expectations for my teammates and myself. We didn't perform the way we wanted to in the first period. We picked it up in the second period, but still not the effort that we wanted."
The Eskymos got a penalty for too many men on the ice, but the Jets committed the Cardinal sin of power plays: icing the puck.
That put the faceoff in the Jeffers zone, and Wunder made them pay with a highlight reel, unassisted goal off of the draw.
"I'll admit that I was bad on the faceoffs tonight," Wunder said. "I noticed they were trying to shoot the puck over to the boards. So I popped it through his (Jeffers center) feet. I fell down, and I got up, and I just shot it."
"He's a competitor," Hughes said of Wunder. "He gives you 100 percent every shift, and if he could be out there for every shift, if it was up to him, he would be."
And just over three minutes later, Wunder took a nifty pass from Derek Chaillier and beat goaltender Dax Durocher for his fourth straight goal. It was a 4-1 Escanaba lead, and Bekkala used his time out to try to stop the bleeding.
"He (Chaillier) made a great pass," Wunder said. "I don't know if he saw me. He just sent it over to me. I was gonna shoot, but he (Durocher) closed it down one me (five-hole). So, the 'D' gave me a lane, I walked out front, and he gave me the five-hole."
It worked, as the Eskymos did not score again for the longest time. And then in the third period, when Escanaba got called for too many men for a second time, the Jets took advantage with a goal off the stick of David Pollard. So, despite the outburst from Wunder, Jeffers was down just 4-2 with eleven minutes left in the third period.
But any thoughts of a Jets comeback ended three minutes later as Blaine Borman won a faceoff and Pinar skated coast-to-coast, beating Durocher high for the 5-2 goal.
Escanaba outshot Jeffers, 36-20. Durocher made 31 saves, while Valentine made 18 stops for his second win of the season.
Valentine was picked the game's #2 star, after not being sure whether he would play, or if senior Nick LeMire would start in net.
"I was a little bit surprised, but excited, too," Valentine said. "I had to shake it off (Jeffers' first goal) and keep playing. They had a couple shots from the side, just going back to the weak side and stuff. Our defensemen did a great job tonight."
Eskymo defenseman Matt Casey was picked the game's #2 star for his quality minutes on the blue line throughout the contest.
"It was a pretty good game, I guess," Casey said. "A lot of good bounces. You just have to go out there and do your best when you get your chance."
Hughes was happy with Casey, and with his team's overall defensive performance.
"Matt jumped right in, didn't skip a beat, just like if he's been playing a regular shift," Hughes said. "That's good for Matt to get a little confidence. Our 'D' played good, besides that first goal.
"We made some adjustments. Instead of throwing the puck at the boards in the neutral zone, we battled it off the wall, went 'D-to-D', and got some flow going."
After the game, Wunder says there's still lots of room for improvement.
"I think we need to start working a little bit harder," he said. "These games are just setting us up for bigger games. Practice. Maybe we need to start working a little harder in practice. Our performance hasn't been where we want it yet."
Jeffers fell to 6-2 on the season, and will play Negaunee on Saturday in Wells as the Gil Versailles/Dick Johnsen Memorial Tournament continues. Game time is 2:00.
Then the Escanaba Eskymo alumni games will be played at 4:00 and 5:30.
Escanaba (6-3) will play Negaunee in the tournament's final game Sunday aternoon at 4:00. That game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on rrnsports.com.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from the game, and to hear radio replays and interviews.
After all, Wunder led the Eskymos to a mercy-shorted victory over the Jets last season.
Jeffers' Drew Morris scores against Esky's Jack Valentine during Friday's game.
Calvin Pinar also scored for the Eskymos, who improve to 6-3 on the season.
"He's got the natural ability to score," Eskymo Coach Matt Hughes said of Wunder. "He's got an eye for the net. He knows where to shoot on goaltenders to put the puck in the net. We had a lot of chances from the hash-marks right in on the goaltender."
Jeffers jumped off to a 1-0 lead as Drew Morris took the pass from Tyler Bailey and ripped one off the cross bar and past Jack Valentine just 4:27 into the game. And for most of the period, the Jets kept the Eskymos away from the prime scoring areas in their zone.
"They did a good job of putting a neutral zone trap on us," Hughes said. "So, we made a few adjustments, got the puck to the weak side, and finally started putting some pucks into the net."
Levi Wunder scores to make it 1-1.
Wunder says that he, and his teammates, wanted to prove something right there.
"I was a little upset," he admitted. "I have high expectations for my teammates and myself. We didn't perform the way we wanted to in the first period. We picked it up in the second period, but still not the effort that we wanted."
Levi Wunder (21) goes wide on Brady Guilbault (10) as Dax Durocher watches .
That put the faceoff in the Jeffers zone, and Wunder made them pay with a highlight reel, unassisted goal off of the draw.
"I'll admit that I was bad on the faceoffs tonight," Wunder said. "I noticed they were trying to shoot the puck over to the boards. So I popped it through his (Jeffers center) feet. I fell down, and I got up, and I just shot it."
"He's a competitor," Hughes said of Wunder. "He gives you 100 percent every shift, and if he could be out there for every shift, if it was up to him, he would be."
And just over three minutes later, Wunder took a nifty pass from Derek Chaillier and beat goaltender Dax Durocher for his fourth straight goal. It was a 4-1 Escanaba lead, and Bekkala used his time out to try to stop the bleeding.
Levi Wunder's fourth goal.
It worked, as the Eskymos did not score again for the longest time. And then in the third period, when Escanaba got called for too many men for a second time, the Jets took advantage with a goal off the stick of David Pollard. So, despite the outburst from Wunder, Jeffers was down just 4-2 with eleven minutes left in the third period.
Calvin Pinar (18) scored the team's fith goal.
Escanaba outshot Jeffers, 36-20. Durocher made 31 saves, while Valentine made 18 stops for his second win of the season.
Valentine was picked the game's #2 star, after not being sure whether he would play, or if senior Nick LeMire would start in net.
"I was a little bit surprised, but excited, too," Valentine said. "I had to shake it off (Jeffers' first goal) and keep playing. They had a couple shots from the side, just going back to the weak side and stuff. Our defensemen did a great job tonight."
Eskymo defenseman Matt Casey was picked the game's #2 star for his quality minutes on the blue line throughout the contest.
"It was a pretty good game, I guess," Casey said. "A lot of good bounces. You just have to go out there and do your best when you get your chance."
Matt Casey was the game's #3 star Friday.
"Matt jumped right in, didn't skip a beat, just like if he's been playing a regular shift," Hughes said. "That's good for Matt to get a little confidence. Our 'D' played good, besides that first goal.
"We made some adjustments. Instead of throwing the puck at the boards in the neutral zone, we battled it off the wall, went 'D-to-D', and got some flow going."
After the game, Wunder says there's still lots of room for improvement.
"I think we need to start working a little bit harder," he said. "These games are just setting us up for bigger games. Practice. Maybe we need to start working a little harder in practice. Our performance hasn't been where we want it yet."
Calvin Pinar scores to make it a 5-2 Escanaba lead.
Then the Escanaba Eskymo alumni games will be played at 4:00 and 5:30.
Escanaba (6-3) will play Negaunee in the tournament's final game Sunday aternoon at 4:00. That game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on rrnsports.com.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos from the game, and to hear radio replays and interviews.
