Valentine's 34 Saves Help Eskymos Salvage 2-2 Tie

MARQUETTE---Sophomore goaltender Jack Valentine made 34 saves to help the Escanaba Eskymos get a 2-2 tie with the Marquette Redmen Tuesday at Lakeview Arena. It was the EHS back-up's best game in an Eskymo uniform, and it came as the Escanaba offense was shut down by Marquette's neutral zone trap.

Eskymo Hockey Coach was impressed with his young goaltender's effort.

"He played very well, actually," Hughes said. "He made a lot of key saves. I told that to our tem, after the first period, that we were lucky to be in this. Jack came up big. He got the chance to play, and he stepped up. He made the saves that he needed to make."

The Eskymos fell behind, 2-0, before scoring a pair of power play goals in the second period to equalize the score.

Escanaba entered the game with a 10-3-0 record, and was ranked in the state's top ten in Division Two. Marquette, meanwhile, came in with a 2-7-2 record, and they had nothing to lose.

The Redmen made life tough on the Eskymos as they constantly put three men in the neutral zone, effectively knocking down Escanaba's ability to move the puck.

"I told the kids how you need to beat it," Hughes said. "You have to be strong on the puck, and chip it by them, or get it to the weak side. I don't know if it was a lack of effort on our part, or kids' heads weren't in the game."

While the Escanaba offense sputtered, the team had to rely on Valentine to keep it close. Valentine had not faced very many shots this season, but he stood tall Tuesday night. "I was very impressed with Mr. Valentine tonight," Hughes said.

Steve Wood ties the game at 2-2.

Marquette scored the first goal of the game with 2:21 left in the first period as Anthony Fedrizzi scored on a rebound.

In the second period, Luke Schwemin scored the unassisted top-shelf goal as he banged in his own rebound, and Marquette led, 2-0.

The only time the Eskymos were able to shake the Marquette "lock" defense was on the power play. And Escanaba was finally able to get on the board as Levi Wunder scored with 6:30 left in the second period, and Steve Wood tallied with 1:57 left in the period.

The third period wasn't much better for Escanaba, even though the boys were afforded a power play late in the period.

Escanaba had just two shots on goal in the third period, and were outshot, 31-10, through three periods of play.

After Valentine shut the door on several prime scoring chances in that period, the Eskymos limped into the overtime period and then took command.

Escanaba had eight shots on goal in overtime...almost as many as in the entire previous 51 minutes...but they could not get one past Marquette goaltender John Beckman. Marquette ended up outshooting Escanaba, 36-18, in the game. It was one of the few times this season that an opponent put more shots on net than the Eskymos.

"We came out flat," Hughes said. "It was a lack of effort on our part in the first period. That kind of hurt us the rest of the game. We made adjustments as we went along, and we started playing better hockey, but it was a little too late."

Jack Valentine huge third period saves to preserve tie

Valentine was picked the game's #1 star. Marquette's Cam Verigin, who's job it was to "shadow" Wunder to prevent Wunder from scoring, was the #2 star.

"We knew that was gonna happen," Hughes said of Verigin's coverage of Wunder. "We prepared for it. I simply t0ld the boys, that you need to use each other. You can't expect to carry the puck from one end to the other. They're gonna be on you. Marquette is not going to back down. They're gonna come at you."

Eskymo captain Derek Chaillier got the game's #3 star for his exhaustive effort on defense.

Matt Hughes post-game comments

"We mercied them (8-0) a month ago," Hughes said of Marquette. "Thinkng that it's gonna be the same outcome before the game even started? I'm not quite sure."

Escanaba travels to Traverse City this weekend for the eight-team North/South Invitational at Centre Ice Arena

There have been game time changes for the Eskymos in this event. Escanaba will face Macomb Dakota Friday night at 6:15. The game will be broadcast on WGKL-FM (105.5), WCHT-AM (600), and rrnsports.com starting at 6:00.

Saturday's game against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett will now start at 1:15, with a pregame show at 1:00 on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to listen to radio highlights.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

11/22	7:00 PM	at Houghton Gremlins	0 - 6 (L)	0-1

11/29	7:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	5 - 4 (W)	1-1

11/30	1:00 PM	at Alpena Wildcats	3 - 0 (W)	2-1

12/3	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	8 - 0 (W)	3-1

12/9	7:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	7 - 0 (W)	4-1

12/10	7:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	2 - 4 (L)	4-2

12/14	1:00 PM	Hancock Bulldogs	3 - 0 (W)	5-2

12/20	7:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	1 - 5 (L)	5-3

12/27	8:00 PM	Painesdale-Jeffers Jets	5 - 2 (W)	6-3

12/29	4:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	5 - 2 (W)	7-3

1/3	6:30 PM	at Cheboygan Chiefs	8 - 0 (W)	8-3

1/4	12:30 PM	at Grand Blanc Bobcats	11 - 3 (W)	9-3

1/11	7:00 PM	Calumet Copper Kings	8 - 1 (W)	10-3

1/14	7:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	2 - 2 (T)	10-3-1

1/17	6:15 PM	Macomb Dakota	3 - 4 (L)	10-4-1

1/18	1:15 PM	Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett	3 - 3 (T)	10-4-2

1/21	7:00 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	8 - 2 (W)	11-4-2

1/29	7:00 PM	at Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	1 - 7 (L)	11-5-2

2/6	2:00 PM	Farmington High School	2 - 4 (L)	11-6-2

2/7	12:15 PM	at Marysville High School	6 - 2 (W)	12-6-2

2/8	12:30 PM	Berkley-Ferndale United	2 - 2 (T)	12-6-3

2/11	7:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	12 - 1 (W)	13-6-3

2/14	7:00 PM	at Calumet Copper Kings	4 - 1 (W)	14-6-3

2/15	1:00 PM	at Hancock Bulldogs	2 - 3 (L)	14-7-3

2/20	7:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	7 - 2 (W)	15-7-3

2/25	7:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	3 - 0 (W)	16-7-3

2/27	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	1 - 2 (L)	16-8-3