That's More Like It! Eskymos Roll Past Alpena, 7-2

ALPENA---For those who thought that the Escanaba Eskymos carried the play to the Alpena Wildcats during Friday night's hockey game between the two teams, they got a new eye-opener as they watched Saturday afternoon's series finale in Alpena.

Escanaba lost Friday night's game, 2-1, as the Wildcats took advantage of some Eskymo mistakes and the Eskyoms were offensively-challenged, to say the least.

But on Saturday afternoon, the Eskymos were in complete control, even though somehow, the game was tied, 2-2 in the second period.

Escanaba fired 50 shots at the Alpena goal and posted a dominating 7-2 victory at the Northern Lights Arena. Eskymo junior Chris LeMire had the best game in his three-year EHS career, scoring four straight goals, including two during the final minute of the second period.

EHS senior Dylan Gauthier played, by far, his best game, since a devastating injury during his freshman year in downstate Chelsea, in which he sliced his leg during a showcase game there.

Charlie Zuidema to Dylan Gauthier goal

Gauthier scored a pair of goals...including one that he banked off of a fallen goaltender's skate from behind the red line...during the second period.

Gauthier's first goal was much prettier, as he took a pass from Charlie Zuidema on a 2-on-1 situation, and slammed it home.

Nick Aird scored the first goal of the game for the Eskymos, on the team's eleventh shot at small-but-talented Alpena goaltender Trevor McConnell. The Eskymos, however, let down in the final minute of the first period, as Alpena's Evan LaToureau flipped one over the shoulder of Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine, who went down on the play.

Nick Aird Goal Gives Esky The Lead

Escanaba outshot Alpena, 15-2, in the first period, but the game was tied at 1-1.

Midway through the second period, the Eskymos took the lead as Zuidema and Gauthier went in on what started as a 2-on-2 break.

But when one Alpena defenseman dove and took himself out of the play, it was an odd-man rush. Zuidema lifted a pass over the remaining defenseman's stick to Gauthier, who scored, to make it 2-1.

Gauthier would take an interference penalty a moment later, however, giving Alpena new life with a power play chance.

The Eskymos killed off all but a few seconds of that power play, but the Wildcats tied it up on an ice-level shot by Jacob Hamp. It appeared that Valentine was expecting the shot to go wide, but it didn't. So, the game was tied at 2-2.

But then the Eskymos finally got some "puck luck". Gauthier scored his second goal of the period from behind the red goal line, near the right-wing corner.

His shot hit the skate of the diving McConnell, and went "top shelf" for a 3-2 Escanaba lead. Then, in the final minute of the second period, came the game's turning point. LeMire scored his first goal of the afternoon with a long-range shot that may have hit a defenseman before going into the net with 54 seconds left in the second period.

Chris LeMIre's first goal makes it 4-2

But the Eskymos weren't done there. In the final seconds of the period, four different Escanaba players crowded the Alpena goal crease area.

And as they all jammed ther sticks into the area looking to knock the puck across the goal line, it was LeMire who got the goal...his second in a span of 26 seconds.

It was 5-2 Escanaba after two periods.

In the third period, the Eskymos kept the peddal to the metal. Their aggressiveness forced several Alpena penalties, and on one of them, LeMire completed his hat trick at the 8:06 mark, cashing in on assists by defensemen Calvin Pinar and Paul Carne.

Escanaba was shorthanded in the final minute of the game, but LeMire was still able to make that situation special. Sophomore Gavin Schwalbach blocked a shot on the penalty kill at the Eskymo blueline. LeMire picked up the puck and raced by everybody in the other direction.

He picked his spot on McConnell and scored his fourth goal. The Eskymos won, 7-2, but the score would have been much different if Alpena's goaltender hadn't stood on his head, even more than he did with 25 saves in Friday night's game.

Chris LeMire scores 4th goal.

McConnell is the shortest guy on the Alpena team, but he plays large between the pipes, with a strong glove hand. He covers the posts very well.

But this time, the Eskymos simply had too much firepower for McConnell.

The win was much-needed, after a disheartening 2-1 loss Friday night in which the Wildcats took advantage of their opportunitues and the Eskymos didn't.

Nick Aird puts Escanaba on the board

Escanaba travels to Dickinson County on Tuesday for the Great Lakes Hockey Conference opener against the Kingsford Flivvers. Game time from Iron Mountain's Mountain View Ice Arena is set for 7:00 ET/6:00 CT.

The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line, at www.rrnsports.com. The team's home opener is on Dec. 1 against Marquette.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear radio highlights and interviews from Saturday's game in Alpena.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

11/20	7:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	1 - 2 (L)	0-1-0

11/21	1:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	7 - 2 (W)	1-1-0

11/24	7:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	3 - 2 (W)	2-1-0

12/1	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	3 - 2 (W)	3-1-0

12/5	5:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	1 - 0 (W)	4-1-0

12/7	7:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	13 - 0 (W)	5-1-0

12/12	1:00 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 5 (L)	5-2-0

12/18	5:00 PM	at Midland Dow High School	1 - 3 (L)	5-3-0

12/19	12:00 PM	at Midland Chemics	5 - 3 (W)	6-3-0

12/30	7:00 PM	Painesdale-Jeffers Jets	8 - 1 (W)	7-3-0

1/3	1:00 PM	Cheboygan Chiefs	8 - 0 (W)	8-3-0

1/8	7:30 PM	Central Algoma, Ontario	4 - 1 (W)	9-3-0

1/9	1:00 PM	Central Algoma, Ontario	9 - 2 (W)	10-3-0

1/15	4:00 PM	Macomb Dakota	5 - 4 (W)	11-3-0

1/16	12:30 PM	Grand Haven High School	10 - 0 (W)	12-3-0

1/19	7:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	2 - 0 (W)	13-3-0

1/21	7:00 PM	Calumet Copper Kings	2 - 4 (L)	13-4-0

1/28	6:00 PM	at Chelsea Bulldogs	3 - 3 (T)	13-4-1

1/29	10:00 AM	at Romeo High School	3 - 5 (L)	13-5-1

1/30	12:00 PM	at Berkley-Ferndale United	4 - 4 (T)	13-5-2

2/4	7:00 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	4 - 1 (W)	14-5-2

2/13	1:00 PM	at Houghton Gremlins	3 - 3 (T)	14-5-3

2/19	5:00 PM	at Calumet Copper Kings	2 - 2 (T)	14-5-4

2/20	1:00 PM	at Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 3 (L)	14-6-4

2/25	7:30 PM	Negaunee Miners	8 - 3 (W)	15-6-4

3/1	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	1 - 2 (L)	15-7-4