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Escanaba Hockey Team Battles; Loses In Hancock
 HANCOCK---The Escanaba Eskymos hockey team battled hard against the Hancock Bulldogs Friday night before fallinhg,5-1, at the Houghton County Arena. The Bulldogs' top players, Austin Salani, Mason Mickesch, and Chad Nordstrom, once again lit up the scoreboard, as they did in a 9-3 Hancock win two weeks ago in Escanaba. But this time, the Eskymos played even with the Bulldogs for long stretches of the game. It was a 0-0 scoreless tie after one period as junior goaltender Bryce Buchbinder made 13 saves, several of them from in close. Escanaba senior Spencer Bourdeau had two of the team's five shots in that first period, with one of them nearly finding its way into the net. Hancock jumped on the Eskynos 33 seconds into the second period on an Salani goal, and then the Eskymos nearly tied the game on the power play a short time later when Gunnar Bourdeau banged one off the goal post. Hancock went up 2-0 when, with a delayed penalty coming to Escanaba, Michesch scored on a rebound at the 4:09 mark. Escanaba cut the 2-0 deficit in half when Sawyer LaMarch took advantage of a bad Bulldog pass, skated in on goal, and put it into the net to make it 2-1 at the 5:49 mark. But the Eskymios could not get out of the period. The Bulldogs worked it down low and with just 1:40 left in the period, Mickesh tipped it home, with Salani and Nordstrom again assisting. The Bulldogs scored twice in the third period, with Salani's power play goal in the final minute sealing the victory. Escanaba captain Nick Kolich played a strong defensive game, blocking several shots in frobt of Buckbinder, who was playing for the first time this season. Escanaba (1-4-0) rode home late Friday night, but will travel back to the Keweenaw on Saturday for a game at the Colosseum against the Calumet Copper Kings. Game time is 7:00. It will be broadcast live on WCHT-FM (93.5), WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. |
