Wickham, LaMarch Help Eskymos Overwhelm Jets

WELLS---Garth Wickham scored a hat trick and Parker LaMarch tallied twice as the Escanaba Eskymos beat the Painesdale-Jeffers Jets, 8-1, Wednesday night in Wells.

The game opened a four-game, non-conference homestand for Escanaba.

The Jets, on their third long road trip from the Copper Country already this season, were a step behind for most pf the night.

The Eskymos jumped to a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game when Parker LaMarch buried a Charlie Zuidema feed past Painesdale goaltender Trevor Lowney.

But the Jets hung in there for a while, and even tied the game with a power play goal 46 seconds into the second period off the stick of Lance Kangas. The 1-1 tie didn't last long, however, as Wickham scored his first of three goals just a minute later.

That opened the flood gates as the Eskymos scored five second period goals.

"The kids really came out flying," Escanaba Coach Matt Hughes said. "I was surprised. Typically, they're on vacation, and they're sleeping in to 9, 10, 11 o'clock. But they really responded to the couple of practices we had. They did everything we asked."

Garth Wickham scores his first goal

Hayden Haslow scored his first Eskymo goal off a feed from Charlie Zuidema midway through the second period, then Calvin Pinar's top shelf goal only 51 seconds later exploded the Escanaba lead to 4-1. Then LaMarch scored his second goal of the game a minute later, with Paul Carne catching Jeffers in a bad line change with a nice pass.

"I saw they were on a line change, and Coach is always stressing when we have the long change, we just need to post up," LaMarch said. "We took advantage of that. He made a good pass, and I, fortunately, scored."

Wickham scored late in the second period, and then tallied again just seven seconds into the third period to complete his hat trick. Escanaba's lead was 7-1.

"A little puck luck, I guess," said Wickham, who said this was his first high school hat trick. "Me and (Nick) Aird have been working pretty well together. And Punk (Hunter LaMarch), when we made that change, we were working really well. So, I'm just getting the puck on my stick at the right times, and it's working out for me."

One of the team's playmakers was Zuidema, who set up a pair of goals.

"That's my main goal, is to just kind of make plays on the ice," Zuidema said. "I'm trying to get in the habit of shooting a little more. We knew what we had to do. We just stuck with our plan, and we finished it."

Hayden Haslow first-ever Eskymo goal

Wickham had an assist to go along with his three goals. Escanaba outshot Jeffers, 37-20. Jack Valentine stopped 19 shots for Escanaba. Lowney stopped 16 of 21 shots for the Jets, and was replaced by Jacob Zerbst, who stopped 13 of 16 shots.

Jeffers lost its third straight game and fell to 7-6. Escanaba is now 7-3 on the season.

Escanaba's homestand continues with a rare Sunday afternoon game after the holiday against the Cheboygan Chiefs. Face-off is 1:00. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to listen to radio replays, player interviews, and to see Mary Gauthier's photos and videos.

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