Wickham Leads Eskymos Past Midland At Showcase

CHEBOYGAN---Garth Wickham scored two goals and added an assist to help the Escanaba Eskymos beat the Midland Chemics, 5-3, Saturday at the Cheboygan Hockey Showcase. The win came after a disappointing loss Friday to Midland Dow.

"I thought overall, it was a much better effort than last night," Eskymo Coach Matt Hughes said. "The kids responded very well. And we responded to getting scored on. The kids didn't curl up and get all frustrated because they got scored on."

"They went out and worked harder. I thought overall, our effort was great," Hughes continued. The guys worked very hard down low."

After going 0-for-7 on the power play in Friday night's 3-1 loss to Dow, the Eskymos cashed in on two power plays Saturday to grab the advantage against the Chemics.

The Eskymos took a 1-0 leadwhen Calvin Pinar scored the power play goal with 26.6 seconds left in the first period.

The lead when to 2-0 when Chris LeMire worked hard along the wall and got it to Wickham, who scored his first goal of the game at the 4:29 mark of the second priod.

Midland closed to within 2-1 on a goal by Cheyne Maier with 3:59 left in the second period, but the Eskymos got another power play and took advantage. Wickham scored on his backhand as he took the rebound off a Nick Aird shot and smacked it home.

"Coach was consistent, telling us to work hard, get to the net first, and win those battles," Wickham said. "I think we did better with that today than in last night's game. Power play was really weak at times (Friday) and we just needed to move the puck more. I thought we did a little better with that today. Two power play goals, so, that looks better."

"Coach always told us to be the harder worker," LeMire said. "Yesterday, we were slow out there. So, today, we had to put more energy into the small battles."

The backbreaker from Midland's point of view came six minutes into the third period, with Blaine Borman in the box for a head contact penalty. LeMire got a loose puck, carried it into the Midland zone, and behind the Chemic net.

Instead of tying the puck up on the boards to kill time, LeMire wrapped it around the net and banked it home.

The Chemics argued that the puck did not cross the goal line, but the goal stood.

"The team was actually making me very angry today," LeMire said. "They were very cock out there. I think we needed a little boost in our penalty kill tonight. I thought I might as well just try to do our best, and get a goal on it. Get come confidence out there."

Midland closed to within 4-2 on a shorthanded goal by Greg Landis with 9:52 left in the game, but the Eskymo third line got that goal back four minutes later. Dylan Gauthier got the puck in the corner and made a nifty pass to Gavin Schwalbach in front for the goal.

"Dyl got it in the corner and I have no clue how he got it to me," Schwalbach said. "And I just waited it out. I think I went five-hole."

"Dylan won the battle on the wall and he sent it out to Gavin going to the net, and Gavin was very, very patient with the puck," Hughes said. "He made it look so easy to score that goal. His patience was so great. That's very good to see from a coaching standpoint."

The Eskymos tried several times to get Wickham his hat trick, and his best chance came with a few minutes left on the clock when he clanked one off of the cross bar.

"Garth had a great game," Hughes said. "He really stepped up. I thought he was strong on the puck, and he supported his line-mates really well. That's what happens when you work hard, you get rewarded. The puck seems to end up on your stick. And he went to the net on both of those goals."

Midland scored a goal (Brendan Witt) with 1:14 left to make it a 5-3 final.

Escanaba (6-3-0) will host Painesdale-Jeffers on Wednesday, Dec. 30 (7:00 p.m.), and then will host Cheboygan on Sunday, Jan. 3 (1:00 p.m.). Both games are scheduled to be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Mark Gauthier, and to listen to player/coach interviews.