Click the thumbnails to see videos taken by Cooper LaMarch, and to hear post-game comments from Brody Levesque. Also click to hear player spotlight interviews with Graham Johnson and Ben Sands.
ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School hockey team started fast and finished fast Friday night in a 9-1 mercy-killing of the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils in the MHSAA Division Three regional semifinals at the Wells Sports Complex.
Escanaba led, 4-1, after one period, and scored four more times in the second period. It took less than a minute for Nick Martinson to end it for the Eskymos on the mercy rule as the third period began.
“We knew that their goaltender could be very strong, so we worked a lot on moving pucks at practice,” Escanaba Coach Andy Johnson said. “There were a number of times where we came in and took shots from the top of the circle, so we needed to shoot the rebounds or get some traffic in front. We had to get him moving, and that was the game plan coming in. That opened some areas for us and the boys did that very well.”
Brody Levesque had a hat trick for the Eskymos, as the boys get another crack at arch-rival Marquette next Wednesday night in the regional final.
“It was a long day of school,” Levesque said. “I wanted to play this game all day. The three goals I had today, I mean, their goalie is a bigger goalie, so we knew the rebounds were going to come out. Two of them (goals) were rebounds, and the third one I shot from behind the goal line and it went in. All the training I do every day, I go to the gym every day, I mean, it's all finally starting to come together.”
Owen LaBonte added two goals and a three-assist playmaker, and Graham Johnson, the recently-announced Great Lakes Hockey Conference Player of the Year, had a goal and four assists.
Caleb Sober scored the only goal for Sault Ste. Marie, which finished its season with a 9-20-1 record. Goaltender Dane Vaught stopped 31 shots in the loss.
The game became increasingly chippy as the Eskymos poured in the goals, with one Blue Devil player getting a misconduct and three minor penalties in the second period. The Blue Devils took 15 penalty minutes in that period, the Eskymos took none.
“Discipline,” Coach Johnson said. “We don't need to get into that extra stuff. If they want to do it, they can take the penalty. We're not going to retaliate. We're not going to get into that kind of hockey. It's just not what we do. We'll just play hard-nosed Eskymo hockey. Yeah, we're going to grind with you, and we're going to play the body. But we're just not going to get into the extra cross-checks or the extra stuff after the whistle.”
Escanaba (18-9-1) outshot the Blue Devils, 40-16, in just 35 minutes of play. Three of Escanaba's goals came on the power play.
And now, the battle-tested Eskymos (16 games against teams ranked in the top ten in the state) will face another battle-tested team, the Marquette Sentinels. Both teams are ranked in the state top ten, and Marquette won both regular season games against the Eskymos.
“It's just gonna be a lot of hard work,” Graham Johnson said. “Every shift matters. If you make a mistake, it could end up being a goal for the other team. We've just got to limit our mistakes, and it's gonna be a fun last ride. I think our team is built for this.”
“Playoff hockey is a whole different level,” said Eskymo senior Ben Sands, who also scored against the Soo Friday night. “Everyone wants to get to Plymouth (for the state finals), and everyone does what they have to do to get there. As a team, we just have to keep playing how we play. Play playoff hockey. Aggressive. Scoring dirty goals and just getting games done with and win.”
Faceoff at Marquette's Lakeview Arena is set for Wednesday night at 7:30. The game will be broadcast live on WGMV-FM (Maverick 106.3) and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.
