Bulldogs Top Eskymos In Battle Of Ranked Teams

WELLS---The Escanaba High School hockey team had its five-game winning streak come to an end Saturday as the Hancock Bulldogs posted a 5-2 victory in Wells.

The Bulldogs jumped to a 2-0 lead and never looked back. It was a battle of two teams both ranked ninth in the state in their respective divisions...Escanaba in Division Two and Hancock in Division Three. Eskymo Coach Matt Hughes was less-than-pleased.

"We panicked too much with the puck," Hughes said. "We just threw it around. That was a lot of turnovers, and these kids are better than that. We've proven that we're better than that. They just need to go find that again."

Ted Randell and Dylan Paavola scored less than three minutes apart midway through the first period to put Hancock in front. The Eskymos got some life when Hunter LaMarch slammed home a Charlie Zuidema pass to make it a 2-1 game, and the Eskymos had several great scoring chances on goaltender Dawon Kero late in that first period.

Escanaba Nick Aird goal.

Escanaba had 11 shots on goal in that first period, but the boys managed only seven more shots on goal over the final two periods. And that's despite the fact that the Eskymos had five power plays in the contest.

"I thought we started the game well and we put some pressure on them," Hughes said. "But we were flat, for the most part. Especially in our defensive zone."

"I don't know if we were tired, or if we're working the kids too hard, or this sickness going around. But, you're high school kids. You're 17, 18 years old. You need to flip the switch when you get to the rink, and unfortunately, we were unable to do that tonight."

Hancock expanded its lead on two nearly-identical plays in the second period. Both started with the play in the left wing corner, and both ended up with passes to an open winger right in front of Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine. It was Devyn LaCourt to score the first goal of the period at 1:21. Alex Nordstrom scored at 6:58.

"They're a very good hockey team," Hughes said. "We can't get away with things against good hockey teams. The result is you lose the game. We had way too many turnovers where guys just threw the puck somewhere instead of picking their head up and making a play. Dumping the puck into the corner and not having any guys chase it."

Escanaba Hunter LaMarch goal.

"Things like that. You can't turn it over against a good hockey team."

Escanaba closed to within 4-2 as Nick Aird tapped it into a wide-open net off a feed from Chris LeMire. LeMire had just been stopped by Kero moments earlier, and the play continued as Paavola lay on the ice in pain about 30 feet in front of the net.

That goal came with 7:33 left to play in the second period. But the Eskymos never came close to scoring again over the final half of the contest. Hancock iced it with an empty net goal by Randell with 59 seconds left in the third period.

"They beat is in the one-on-one battles tonight, they beat us in a lot of races to pucks, so, we have to be willing to pay the price on those things," Hughes said. "As a hockey team, we have to work harder."

Hancock (4-2) outshot Escanaba (5-2), 23-18.

The Eskymos return to action next weekend with a pair of games at a showcase in Cheboygan.

Escanaba will face Midland High School Friday afternoon, and Midland Dow High School on Saturday.

Friday's game starts at 5:00 and can be heard live on WGKL-FM (105.5), WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Saturday's game starts at 12:00 noon, live on WCHT-AM (600) and at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mark Gauthier, and to hear radio interviews.

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