Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos taken by Lizzy Taylor. Click the AUDIO buttons to hear post-game comments from Hunter Allen, Hank Sholten, and Coach Andy Johnson. Also click to hear radio goal replay highlights, and player spotlight interviews with seniors Owen LaBonte and Carson Hughes.
WELLS TWP.---The Escanaba High School hockey team opened the season with an easy 7-0 win over the Kingsford Flivvers Tuesday night at the Wells Sports Compex.
The Eskymos outshot the Flivvers, 40-19, and all three lines scored goals in the victory. Senior goaltender Cully Hayes stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn the shutout.
“Overall, I'm really happy with how they played,” Eskymo Coach Andy Johnson said. “It was good to get the boys back on the ice. But only having a little over a week of practice is kind of tough. I felt like we were fighting the puck out there. Just pucks bouncing off our sticks, and just not moving it well. But we grinded through it.”
Senior Hunter Allen scored the team's first goal of the season just over five minutes into the game, and he added another in the third period for his first-ever two goal night.
“It just felt amazing to finally get out here, you know, we missed a scrimmage, first game, late start to the season (due to football playoff success),” Allen said. “It feels amazing to get all the boys back out here. I was just in the right spot at the right time. Second one, I was just able to rip. The celly (goal celebration) wasn't great. But first time, just in front of the net crashing.”
The Eskymos rolled all three lines throughout the game, and that paid dividends for the team's two freshmen: Hank Sholten and Chase Korpi. They both scored goals in their first varsity hockey games.
“Chase was forechecking and gave me a good pass and I just sniped it,” Sholten said. “I was pretty hyped. I was like, 'yeah!'”
“Good to see them get the monkey off their backs right away,” Johnson said.
Johnson's son, Graham, a senior captain who is ranked one of the top players in the state, scored a goal for the Eskymos. Nolan Bink, another captain who is also getting statewide recognition, did not score, but had a playmaker of three assists.
And another senior, Ben Sands, who won more than his fair share of face-offs, scored the final Eskymo goal of the game. Senior Carson Hughes also scored for the Eskymos, playing his first game in more than a year after he stepped on a puck in practice last year and suffered a season-ending injury.
Meanwhile, this year's Eskymo team has more than its fair share of injuries, too, with Keagan Braun and Nick Martinson both out with broken bones for another few weeks.
Both of Johnson's sons, Graham and Griffin, also have broken bones, with Graham having a cast under his jersey on a broken hand, and Griffin healing from a broken collarbone. Both managed to play full games Tuesday night.
And Sands played the whole game with a broken finger.
Kingsford (1-1) had beaten Manistique in its opener last week, and against the Eskymos, the Flivvers had several danagerous scoring chances and got 33 saves from sophomore goaltender Alex Hemgren. But the Flivvers were no match for an Escanaba team is ranked sixth in the state in the Division Three pre-season poll.
Five of the top ten ranked Division Three teams are from the Upper Peninsula: Marquette (2nd), Houghton (3rd), Escanaba (6th), Painesdale-Jeffers (7th), and Calumet (10th). Johnson says his Eskymo team has a lot of work to do to meet that standard.
“There's just a lot of good teams in the UP this year between Marquette, Houghton, Jeffers,” Johnson said. “Hancock, it looks like they're playing really good hockey. We can't forget about Calumet. They have most of their team coming back, so that's going to be a really fun game (Dec. 5 in Escanaba).”
Before that, the Eskymos have two home games this weekend against big downstate teams: Traverse City West Friday night at 6 p.m., and Midland Dow Saturday at 3:00, part of a 14-game home schedule that finally sees downstate teams coming here.
