Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Nolan Bink, Gunnar LaMarche, Nick Martinson, and Coach Andy Johnson.
Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear Owen LaBonte and Ben Sands player spotlight interviews.
MANISTIQUE---The Escanaba High School hockey team kept its perfect all-time record against the Manisdtique Emeralds intact Tuesday night with an unusually-easy 9-1 victory at the Little Bear West Arena.
The game was ended by the mercy rule 1:01 into the third period, continuing a streak that reached seven games in the series between the teams.
This one was unusual because five of the last six matchups were games that went to the wire, including two that went to overtime. And all of them Eskymo wins (see the chart below).
This time, no such drama.
Nolan Bink scored a hat trick for the second straight game, and Graham Johnson added two goals and three assists as the Eskymos improved to 6-3-0 heading into Christmas.
“We were just trying to keep the boys from being lazy, and I think we were getting a little lazy on back-checks and coasting in the zone and trying to get to their puck-carrier as fast as they can,” Escanaba Coach Andy Johnson said. “But we played really well. We started just rolling lines, getting (younger) guys in, doing a lot of coaching with them on the bench.”
And Johnson was pleased with the play of young guys like Gunnar LaMarche, Lincoln Bradfield, Nick Martinson, and Brody Lavesque.
“Positionally, they played really well, and it was great to see those guys working hard,” Johnson said. “There was one shift they were out there with Manistique's top line, and they kept the puck in their defensive zone, our offensive zone, for like 30-40 seconds. That was fun to see.”
“It was a pretty good game,” LaMarche said. “Every line was working hard. We don't get too much shifts against really good teams, so I feel like it was good to get to play.”
“I think came out strong and in the second period, we didn't let off the gas and kept going,” Martinson said. “Getting pucks deep, really keeping your head up and get to your spot.”
It's a rebuilding year for Manistique, having had the core of last year's successful team graduate, highlighted by the departure of goaltender Alex Noble. And on Tuesday night, the Eskymos took advantage of the new Emeralds, outshooting them, 31-14, and controlling the play in the Manistique zone for vast stretches of the game.
Bink scored the first two goals of the game, one on a power play less than five minutes in, and then a pretty shorthanded goal four minutes later.
“The guys are just setting me up, and I just need to bury (score) when I need to,” Bink said. “The guys were just forechecking hard and making it easy on me. I just tried to work as hard as possible in the off-season and it's just gonna help a ton. We fumbled a couple of pucks around, but I was just seeing the ice well, and trying to get the younger guys in position. And I think the young guys played really well tonight.”
Carson Hughes made it 3-0 as the Eskymos won an offensive zone face-off late in the first period. The trend continued in the second period when Cale Carter slammed home off a shot off a perfect Johnson set-up at the 1:47 mark, and then Johnson himself scored from between the circles with 7:30 left in the period to make it 5-0.
Manistique replaced goaltender junior Jackson Goudreau with sophomore Logan Lusk, but it didn't help. Johnson greeted Lusk by scoring his second goal of the game, Ben Sands lit the lamp three minutes later, and Bink completed his hat trick 26 seconds after the Sands goal to make it 8-0 with five minutes left in the second period.
That put the mercy rule in effect for the first time ever in this series, and it looked like the Eskymos would have an early bus ride home down US-2 with a two-period win.
But then the Eskymos got into severe penalty trouble. Keagan Braun and Owen LaBonte were both sent to the box with three minutes left, and the Emeralds cashed in on a Ajay Berger goal on the five-on-three power play with 2:54 left in the period.
And moments later, Alex Schwalbach was also sent to the box, so the Emeralds had another 5-on-3. This time, they didn't score, but Manistique was able to get to the dressing room with the game still alive at 8-1.
It didn't last long. LaBonte ended the game with a goal at the 1:01 mark.
One of the best parts of the game was the ability for the Eskymos to give their freshmen players extended shifts on the ice. While they didn't score, the young group impressed Johnson with how they played.
In the end, eight different Eskymos hit the scoresheet, led by Bink's four points. This came on the heels of his six-point performance (three goals, three assists) in a similar 9-1 Eskymo win last Friday night in Negaunee.
Johnson had five more points to bring his team-leading total to 24 points in nine games. Bink is one step behind with 23 points, and he plays the point most of the time.
Hughes had two assists to go along with his goal, and has been a quiet, not-so-flashy player who has been consistent all season long.
And of course Cully Hayes, who has been in net for every single minute of every Eskymo hockey game for the past three seasons, picked up another win. He was not overworked, although he did have to make several good saves early in the game when the Eskymos got lazy with the puck and turned it over in front of him.
Hayes has now won 39 games in the Eskymo net (39-25 record), and barring injury, will be the first Eskymo goalie to start 100 games before he graduates next year.
Escanaba (6-3-0) is off for Christmas before traveling to Alpena for a tournament on Dec. 27-28. The Eskymos will face the Tri-Valley Thunder, which is a combined team of two former high school programs in Bay City and Saginaw.
Escanaba will also face a private school from Ohio in that tournament. Both games will be broadcast back to the Upper Peninsula on FM-93.5, AM-600, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
TUESDAY OTHER U.P. HOCKEY SCORES
Kingsford 7, Minocqua Lakeland, Wis. 3
Painesdale-Jeffers 6, Hancock 2
Houghton 6, Calumet 2
ESKYMOS vs EMERALDS ALL-TIME SERIES
2022 at Manistique...Eskymos win in overtime, 6-5.
2022 at Escanaba...Eskymos win, 6-1.
2023 at Manistique...Eskymos win in overtime, 3-2.
2023 at Escanaba...Eskymos win, 3-1 (with an empty-netter)
2024 at Manistique: Eskymos win, 4-1 (EHS down 1-0 late; two goals in final 7:00, plus two empty-netters)
2024: at Escanaba: Eskymos win, 4-2 (EHS down 2-1 in final minutes)
Tuesday at Manistique: Eskymos win, 9-1.
