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RALLY FALLS SHORT
Marquette eliminates Eskymos, 7-3
It was one year and one day ago that the Escanaba Eskymos nearly shocked the hockey world before losing in triple overtime to the Marquette Redmen in the Division One Regional Tournament.
It was a game that included a now-infamous goal by Mark Bruce that was incorrectly waived off in the first overtime. Fast-forward to 2008, look inside the Eskymo locker room, and you'll see a photo of Bruce's "no-goal" hanging for motivation.
Well, the Eskymos didn't shock the Redmen like they did last year, but came close, before losing 7-3. Escanaba trailed just 4-3 with nine minutes to play in the game before the Redmen pulled away at the end.
"We played with so much heart tonight," Eskymo Coach Pat Goddard said. "This was a lot tighter than a 7-3 game. They opened it up at the end there, and we were pushing a bit and taking some chances to try to tie it up."
Not even a 3-0 deficit deterred the Eskymos from giving the Redmen a run for their money. Marquette got the jump when Mitch Caron went in for tripping, and Mike Peterson scored a power play goal just 6:31 into the game. Then, bang-bang, the Redmen struck again as Brandon Smaby scored two goals 18 seconds apart to make it 3-0.
There it is, three goals in a span of 2:52, and it looked like the Eskymos may be headed for a blowout loss on home ice. But they didn't give up.
They got a boost when Guy Hoenke went to the box for interference and Bruce scored a power play goal (how ironic is that?). This time, the goal was not taken from him and the Eskymos had some momentum heading into the dressing room, trailing 3-1.
Then, early in the second period, Tony Vandermissen roofed a shot to bring the Eskymos to within 3-2. The place was loud, and then, Hoenke went to the box again and the Eskymos had another power play.
But this time, the Redmen dominated while shorthanded and Mike Zuidema had to make a couple of tough saves in that span just to keep the Eskymos within a goal.
A couple of minutes later, Alex Harvala went off for interference and the Redmen made the Eskymos pay again. Mark Nettell scored the power play goal to make it 4-2. Marquette outshot the Eskymos, 17-5, in the second period, but Zuidema made 16 saves to keep his team alive.
"Mike kept that game where we could still be in it," Goddard said. "He kept it winnable. That's big for Mike. He made some big saves for us."
Early in the third period, Matt Miller let one go that goaltender Alex Wickstrom juggled and dropped in front of the goal crease. Harvala swooped in and scored his ninth goal of the season 1:57 into the third period. There it was, Marquette leading just 4-3.
So, at that moment, thoughts went back to last year, when the Eskymos rallied late against the heavily-favored Redmen. And this year, Marquette was an even bigger favorite considering Escanaba's 5-19 regular season record. But they trailed by only one goal in the third period, on home ice.
But then, the turning point. Austin Hayes got whistled for a penalty exactly six minutes into the period. And for the third time, Marquette made the Eskymos pay as Smaby blasted a shot past Zuidema to complete his hat trick. It happened just seven seconds into the power play.
(You can hear replays of goals by Vandermissen and Harvala, plus Smaby's hat trick goal, by clicking the MARQUETTE 7 ESCANABA 3 button on the left side of this page).
Sophomore Jake Robinson took the suspense out of the game when he made it 6-3 just 1:33 later. Defenseman Ray Nolan scored into the empty net at the end of the game to make it a 7-3 final, a score that does not tell the full story of how competitive the game really was.
Give Marquette some credit for the defense it played in the final period. Unlike last year, when the Eskymos got stronger in the final minutes and nearly (did!) pull it out, this time, Marquette clamped down. Harvala's tally that cut it to 4-3 with 13:03 left in the game was the last shot on goal the Eskymos got in the contest.
Marquette (17-5-3) ended up outshooting Escanaba, 42-13, with Zuidema getting a career-high 35 saves on the 41 shots he faced. Wickstrom made just ten saves for the Redmen, but earned the victory.
The season ends with a 6-20 record for the Eskymos, but the fact that they beat Kingsford and battled Marquette deep into the third period showed that the future is bright for this young group of guys.
"I think these two games are gonna be big for everyone on the team," Goddard said. "They played a hell of a hockey game tonight and the seniors can be proud of how they went out. We knew we were better than our record.
"The boys know how they can play, and they just had to put it together," Goddard continued. "The best compliment I heard was from Joe Papin, Marquette's coach. He talked about how much our boys improved since they saw us during the season, and how hard we played."
ESKYMO NOTES: Defenseman Kirk Millette was hit along the boards and injured during the second period. "I got rocked," he said on the radio broadcast. He was bleeding from his elbow and thinks he might have a concussion. But he stayed for the end of the game before heading for the hospital.....Alex Harvala ended up with the team's goal-scoring title with 9, while Doug Beattie and Wyatt Eisenberger ended up tied for the most assists with 11....Harvala tied Ryan Way for the best plus/minus rating at -7....Escanaba scored 70 goals this season, compared with 59 last year....The Eskymos had 17 power play goals this year, compared with only nine last year....Escanaba outshot its opponent 13 times this year, compared with just seven times last season.
ELSEWHERE IN THE U.P.: Sault Ste. Marie beat Petoskey, 2-1, in six overtimes as Brad Smith scored the game-winner with less than a minute left in the sixth overtime....Hancock beat Houghton, 4-1 as Tanner Kero had a hat trick....and Calumet topped L'Anse, 8-1, in a doubleheader at Michigan Tech University.
Game 26---Marquette 7, Escanaba 3
MARQUETE 3 1 3----7
ESCANABA 1 1 1----3
First Period
MQT 1-0: Peterson (Aho, Benzie) 6:31 PPG
MQT 2-0: Smaby (Aho, Peterson) 9:05
MQT 3-0: Smaby (Liberty) 9:23
ESC 1-3: Bruce (Beattie) 11:18 PPG
Second Period
ESC 2-3: Vandermissen (Eisenberger) 0:44
MQT 4-2: Nettell (Aho, Rizzio) 5:35 PPG
Third Period
ESC 3-4: Harvala 9 (M. Miller, Caron) 1:57
MQT 5-3: Smaby (Aho, Lucas) 6:07 PPG
MQT 6-3: Robinson (Heikkanen) 7:40
MQT 7-3: Nolan (Strom) 14:03 ENG
Shots on goal: MQT 10-17-15=42; ESC 6-5-2=13
Goalie Saves: MQT Wickstrom 10/13; ESC Zuidema 35/41.
Penalties/Min: MQT 4/8; ESC 6/12.
Power Plays: MQT 3/5; ESC 1/2.
Three stars: 1. Smaby, MQT; 2. Aho, MQT;
3. Zuidema, ESC. | 