Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos taken by Lizzie Taylor. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear post-game comments from Cale Carter, Graham Johnson, and Coach Andy Johnson.

WELLS---The Escanaba High School hockey team ended nine years of frustration against their biggest rival Friday night, beating Marquette, 3-1, at the Wells Sports Complex. The win broke a 17-game losing streak for the Eskymos against the Redmen, and now the Sentinels, dating back to November 26, 2016.

Graham Johnson, Owen LaBonte, and Cale Carter all scored for the Eskymos, and Cully Hayes stopped 32 shots in net. Braydon O'Dovero scored Marquette's only goal.

“That was probably the most complete Eskymo hockey game that I've watched, maybe, in all of my years of playing or coaching,” Escanaba Coach Andy Johnson said. “Our forecheck was spot-on., every shift. Our backcheck, everybody was getting back, picking guys up.”

His son, Graham, followed up his two-goal performance on Tuesday in Kingsford by scoring the first goal against Marquette, five minutes into the game.

“It feels great to beat Marquette,” Graham Johnson said “We were just really working hard all night tonight. We wanted this one really bad. We played really good positionally. We were hard on the fore-check, great in the D zone, Cully played phenomenal for us.”

O'Dovero cashed in on an Eskymo turnover with the equalizer midway through the first period, then from there, it was up to the two goaltenders. Hayes, a third year starter for Escanaba, stopped all 18 shots that he faced in the second period, and Marquette's Cole Kelly made six saves on the way to a 25-save night.

Finally, in the third period, Owen LaBonte scored for the second straight game, breaking the 1-1 tie and sending the huge Wells Sports Complex into hysterics. And then 88 seconds later, Carter, on his 18th birthday, found the net for the second straight game.

“It was just a statement game to beat Marquette,” Carter said. “We haven't beaten them in nine years. I've been dreaming of this moment for my birthday, to score against Marquette. It's a huge accomplishment. Nolan (Bink) gave me a perfect pass, brought it home. The goalie wasn't there, so, it was just electric.”

Bink was the quarterback on the Eskymo football team, and was also the quarterback on the ice Friday night, assisting on two of Escanaba's three goals.

Coach Johnson says his team played with confidence against a highly-ranked Marquette team, which had picked up quality wins downstate last weekend against Birmingham Brother Rice and Clarkston.

“It was kind of nice to see Marquette icing the puck on us, going high off the glass, getting it out of the zone, instead of us having to do it to them,” he said.

Escanaba (2-0) will be at home on Thanksgiving Eve against Painesdale-Jeffers (3-0), a team that beat the Eskymos twice last season. Marquette (2-1) will have a home-and-home series against a talented Houghton Gremlins team after the holiday.