DOWN TO THE WIRE: Redmen Trip Eskymos, 2-1

WELLS---Everyone who came to watch the Escanaba Eskymos and Marquette Redmen face off Tuesday night knew it was going to be a war. The hitting would be harder. The skating would be faster. Mistakes would be magnified. Every goal scored would be huge.

And that's exactly what we saw inside the Hannahville Ice and Turf as the Redmen edged the Eskymos, 2-1, in the MHSAA Division Two regional quarterfinals.

The win sends Marquette into the semfinal round against Kingsford on Thrsday night, while the Eskymos, last year's regional champion and state semifinalist, had their season come to an end.

"They were fast, moving their feet," Escanaba Coach Matt Hughes said. "They were being physical. Everything that I wanted on our end of it. But the kids fought hard. We were down two goals, and we were down a man for a five-minute major (penalty) and ended up putting one in the net. That took the wind out of their sails a little bit and I thought we were going to get another one, but unfortunately, we couldn't."

Escanaba started strong, outshooting Marquette, 8-1, in the first six minutes of the game. But the Redmen gradually took over the game, with Eskymo goaltender Jack Valentine making several stops on point blank scoring opportunities.

The turning point came when the Eskymos could not get it set up on a power play late in the period, and then when Marquette got a power play moments later, Redmen captain Jake Phillips cashed in. The score remained 1-0 throughout the second period, with Valentine again making strong saves in net as the Redmen carried the play.

Late in the period, the Eskymos had a turnover onto the stick of Phillips, and he roofed it past a startled Valentine to make it 2-0.

"I saw both of my linemates going and Calvin (Pinar, Eskymo defenseman) had the puck behind the net," Phillips said. "My linemates were going at him, so I just kind of went out in the dot area, figured maybe it would go out there, and sure enough, it just came there."

"Lucky enough, kit came right into my hands, looked up quick, and shot the puck," Phillips continued.

In the third period, Valentine again made several big saves, including one with the glove where he lept in the air and then threw the puck past an on-coming Redman skater.

"He made some excellent saves," Hughes said. "That's been his deal all year. That's how he got All-Conference goalie, first team, making saves like that. Unorthodix, but he shows up to play in every big game we've been in."

Then Escanaba's Gavin Schwalbach was called for a five-minute major penalty. Marquette made very few mistakes in the game, but senior Nick Aird took advantage of one as he stole the puck shorthanded, skated in, and scored, to cut it to a 2-1 Marquette lead. But the Eskymos could not get that late tying goal. Season over.

Hughes says he especially feels bad for his eleven seniors, who had the greatest four-year run of success in Eskymo hockey history.

"Everybody in that room was there (state semifinals) last year," Hughes said. "They knew what it would take to get there again, and we knew that if we got past this game, we had an excellent chance of getting there. So, that's what makes it even tougher for the seniors. There's a lot of emotion in the (locker) room right now."

Marquette outshot Escanaba, 28-17, in the game.

Escanaba closes the season with a 15-7-4 record. Marquette improved to 20-6-0 with its ninth straight win. The Redmen face Kingsford in the regional semifinals Thursday night after Kingsford rallied to beat Negaunee, 3-2, Tuesday night in Negaunee. Jordan Wadge had the Flivvers' game-winning goal.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to listen to interviews, replays.

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