High School Sports >> Hockey Night In Escanaba '11-12 >> Hockey Night in Escanaba 09-10 >> Previous Stories Games 6-11

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Under the backdrop of the historic Michigan Tech University banners, the Escanaba Eskymos celebrate with the Jeffers New Years Inivitational championship trophy. It was the fourth tournament title of the season for the Eskymos. (Dave Williams photo)

Eskymos Win Fourth Trophy; Off To Best Start Ever

HOUGHTON---Bryce Wolf scored his first goal in ten games and Alex Wyckoff made 22 saves to lead the Escanaba Eskymos to a 1-0 win over the Negaunee Miners Saturday at Michigan Tech University.

The win gave the streaking Eskymos the championship of the Jeffers New Year's Invitational, the fourth in-season tournament that Escanaba has won so far this season. This comes after the Eskymos had not won any of the tournaments they'd entered in almost a decade.

"Our team defense today was really very, very good," Eskymo Head Coach Charlie Elliott said. "I thought that we pursued the puck unbeliveably well. The score was 1-0, but that game could have been 5-0 in a big hurry if we had made good on the chances that we had."

The result left the Eskymos with a 9-2-0 record, the best after 11 games in the 26-year history of Escanaba High School hockey. It was also the team's fifth shutout of the season, which is also a single-season school record.

"I'm very proud of these young men, as the Escanaba community should be," Elliott said. "We took care of the puck, we stretched the zone very well, opened up the ice. Our skill level is coming. We're starting to make more tape-to-tape passes. Our defensemen are breaking the puck out of the zone much smoother. Our physical play is very strong for the most part."

The only goal of the game came in the second period, as Ryan LaMarch shot one that Miner goalie Justin Farley stopped with his glove. Kyle Bernard swooped in to collect the rebound, passed to Wolf, and Wolf used his back-hand shot to score the goal. It was his first goal since the season-opener.

From there, it was up to the defense...and Wyckoff...to preserve the lead.

Wyckoff made two difficult saves in the first minute of the game. Then his best save of the game came against Negaunee's best player, Tyler Nault, who had skated past the Eskymo defense late in the second period.

"I went for the poke-check because I saw his eyes were at the puck, but I missed," Wyckoff said. "But then I used my leg to poke-check it away from him. He's a fast player. Basically, I just sweep my leg around, and I got the puck from him with my leg."

Fortunately, that was one of the few times that Nault got loose against the Eskymo defense. Nault had ripped the Eskymos for a hat trick in a December meeting, and he had four goals in Friday's win over L'Anse.

(You can hear replays of Wolf's goal, and two of Wyckoff's best saves, by clicking the "ESCANABA 1, NEGAUNEE 0" button on the left side of this page).

Negaunee goaltender Justin Farley also played well between the pipes, making a key save off Brent Kallio seconds after Wyckoff's rejection of Nault's effort.

Clinging to that 1-0 lead, the Eskymos made life tough on themselves by taking seven minor penalties. Senior Troy Rodman was whistled for four of those penalties, which is surprising, considering he had only three penalties all season long coming into the game.

The Eskymo penalty-killers were up to the task, and a long with Wyckoff's work in the net, kept Nault and the Miners off of the scoreboard.

"We've been working so hard," said Esky captain Mike Williams. "Everyone's got to give all they've got out there, and just try to get to puck out. All four of us on the ice, it's a team effort. Everyone's got to take the lanes up, work as hard as you can, and when you get a chance, get it out. You can't mess up on those chances."

Williams was named the game's #2 star. Meanwhile, the #1 star, Wyckoff, was appreciative of his teammates' hard work.

"They cleared about 95 percent of those plays," the goalie said. "Negaunee could have had ten more shots if our defense didn't play as well as they did. Then, we did a good job of breaking out. The ice is terrible, though. I mean, the puck was on edge all day. That just makes it ten times harder."

So, on a historic night for Eskymo hockey, Elliott summed it all up.

"Alex Wyckoff did a great job. Alex was definitely up to the challenge tonight. Our defensemen are getting better and better. I like how they are taking care of the ouck. And our forwards are just unbelievably hard-to-deal-with when they're jumping to support (the defense) the way they did today. A very, very good effort. We played 'right'."

Escanaba (9-2-0) has won six straight games. That streak will be tested next weekend when the Eskymos face Sault Ste. Marie in a home-and-home series. The Soo Blue Devils are 11-2-0 on the season after sweeping Alpena this weekend, and are ranked #2 in the state in Division Three.

The Escanaba Eskymos celebrate Bryce Wolf's goal in the second period against Negaunee Saturday afternoon at Michigan Tech University. (Lisa Dagenais photo)

Left photo: Eskymo Cody Cousineau skates through center ice in Saturday's game at Michigan Tech University. Right photo: Negaunee's Rudy Goupille (9) is covered by Escanaba's Austin Hayes (7) and Jared Dagenais (10). (Dave Williams photos).

Game 11--Escanaba 1, Negaunee 0
ESCANABA 0 1 0----1
NEGAUNEE 0 0 0----0

First Period
No scoring.

Second Period
ESC 1-0: Wolf 2 (LaMarch, Bernard) 4:58

Third Period
No scoring.

Shots on goal: ESC 5-9-9=23; NEG 3-9-10=22.
Goalie Saves: ESC Wyckoff 22/22; NEG Farley 22/23.
Power Plays: ESC 0/3; NEG 0/6.
Penalties/Min: ESC 7/14; NEG 4/8.
Three stars: 1. Wyckoff, ESC; 2. M Williams, ESC; 3. Alexander, NEG.

Jeffers Stops L'Anse For Tourney Third Place

Painesdale-Jeffers' Jay Daavettila (14) and Dan Goldsworthy (8) swarm the L'Anse net as Dan Brunet (17) and Joey Richards (3) defend. Daavettila had two goals and teammate Travis Therrian had a hat trick as Jeffers topped L'Anse, 8-3, Saturday, in the third place game of the New Year's Invitational at Michigan Tech University.

Eskymos Slip Past Jeffers; Win Streak At Five

The red light is on, and Painesdale-Jeffers goaltender Richard Yeshe is down after the Escanaba Eskymos scored a goal during their 6-2 win over the Jets Friday night.

HOUGHTON---It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't very exciting. But Friday night's Escanaba-Painesdale Jeffers hockey game was another victory, and as the Eskymo program continues to build, that's the important thing.

The Eskymos scored three goals in each of the first two periods, then cruised past the Jets, 6-2, at Michigan Tech University's Student Ice Arena. And even though it was a win, Eskymo Coach Charlie Elliott was not totally satisfied with what he saw out on the MacInnes Arena ice.

"Let's put it like this: we have a lot of work to do," Elliott said. "I thought we were definitely the dominant team. But we had way too many individual efforts for my liking, and I thought we were sloppy at best in the offensive zone. Just not sharp in this building tonight, that's all."

The win moved Escanaba into Saturday's championship game of the Jeffers New Year's Tournament against....you guessed it, Negaunee.

"I know that our guys are mentally ready to play Negaunee, so we'll be ready for that battle," Elliott said of meeting the Miners for a fourth time.

Casey Collegnon got the game off on a good note for the Eskymos when he scored just 27 seconds into the contest. Just over two minutes later, Mike Williams put his team up 2-0 with a long shot from beyond the right circle. Jared Dagenais' goal from in close at the 9:22 mark made it 3-0.

For Dagenais, it was his third goal in three games. The junior winger had gone the entire season without a goal in 2008-09.

After Dagenais's goal, the Eskymos got sloppy. Poor play in their own zone led to a Jay Daavettila goal with just 16 seconds left in the first period. "Too lazy," Elliott said.

Then early in the second period, Eskymo goalie Austin Young made a couple of tough saves during a Jets power play opportunity. "Austin played well for us," Elliott said. "Take nothing from him. I thought he was good."

Five minutes into the second period, Dan Williams scored his second goal of the year on a play that was all hustle. The puck was sitting near the Jeffers blue line, and Williams skated through the neutral zone, got the puck, and rifled it past goaltender Richard Yeshe, top-shelf, to make it 4-1.

"Danny's got a lot of potential," Elliott said. "He's gonna be a good one. He gets it, he brings it to the rink every day. He's probably, next to Troy Rodman, our hardest worker every single day. He's playing well."

Moments later, Eskymo senior Brent Kallio victimized Jets senior Steve Dorsey, skating right by him on his way to the net. Kallio then dangled Yeshe and tucked the puck past him for an unassisted goal.

(You can hear replays of the goals by Kallio and Dan Williams by clicking the 'ESKYMOS 6 JEFFERS 2' button on the left side of this page).

Just over two minutes later, on the power play, the Eskymos pressured the Jeffers net. Another penalty was called, and Young was pulled for an extra attacker. That attacker, Kyle Bernard, got the puck and passed it to Kallio who made no mistake for his second goal of the period.

The only goal of the third period was scored by Painesdale's Chase Daavettila. That period was not a well-played one, with the Jets outshooting the Eskymos, 7-4. Escanaba had the shots advantage for the game, 30-17.

Besides Kallio's two goals, Dan Williams had a goal and two assists and was picked as the game's #1 star. Young stopped 15 of 17 shots and was chosen the #3 star. Troy Rodman got the game's #2 star.

"We got off to a great start like I wanted to," Elliott said. "I thought that the first ten minutes of the first period, we were doing the things that I expected us to do. Then, we just shut 'er down, and we had moments where we weren't playing hockey as I've asked them to play. So, I'm a little frustrated with our effort. But we'll take the win and move on."

Four Jets players...including goaltender Richard Yeshe...watch as Troy Rodman (21) attacked the net during Friday's game. He rifled a shot wide before going for a slide.

Eskymo goaltender Austin Young makes one of his 15 saves during Friday's victory.

The Eskymo team enjoys a pasta and chicken dinner before Friday night's game.

Game 10--Escanaba 6, Painesdale-Jeffers 2
ESCANABA 3 3 0----6
JEFFERSHI 1 0 1----2

First Period
ESC 1-0: Collegnon 5 (D Williams) 0:27
ESC 2-0: M Williams 5 (D Williams) 2:40
ESC 3-0: J Dagenais 3 (Hayes, Bernard) 9:22
JEF 1-3: J Daavettila (Goldsworthy, C Daavettila) 16:44

Second Period
ESC 4-1: D Williams 2 (Millette, Collegnon) 5:19
ESC 5-1: Kallio 4 (una) 8:57
ESC 6-1: Kallio 5 (Bernard, M Williams) 11:24 PPG

Third Period
JEF 2-6: C Daavettila (Therrian, Goldsworthy) 9:39

Shots on goal: ESC 13-13-4=30; JEF 5-5-7=17.
Goalie Saves: ESC Young 15/17; JEF Yeshe 24/30.
Power Plays: ESC 1/4; JEF 0/3.
Penalties/Min: ESC 3/6; JEF 4/8.
Three stars: 1. D. Williams, ESC; 2. Rodman, ESC; 3. Young, ESC.

Negaunee Starts Slow; Explodes For 10-2 Win

The Negaunee Miners fell behind 2-1 Friday before exploding for a 10-2 win over the L'Anse Purple Hornets at Michigan Tech University.

Tyler Nault scored four goals (including a natural hat trick). Rudy Goupille added a hat trick of his own for Negaunee, which avenged an earlier 5-3 loss to L'Anse.

Pictured at right: Goupille (9) takes a shot at Hornet goalie Parker Miller as teammates Cory Larson (15) and Preston Paulson (28) go to the net.

Negaunee plays Escanaba Saturday.

ESKYMOS WIN THIRD TROPHY

The Eskymos pose with the championship trophy of the Dick Johnsen tournament. Below, the Eskymos celebrate a goal. (Photos by Lisa Dagenais and Mary Gauthier)

Escanaba Improves to 7-2 After Beating Negaunee

WELLS---If this keeps up, they'll need more room in the trophy case at the Escanaba High School.

The Eskymo hockey team's step-by-step progression toward respectability kept moving forward Tuesday as Escanaba beat Negaunee, 6-2, to win the Dick Johnsen Memorial Tournament in Wells.

It's the third tournament championship for the team so far this season. Skeptics snicker at that, noting that the teams involved in all three tournaments are not world-beaters. But for a program that has had only five winning seasons in 25 years, you've got to start somewhere, and Eskymo Coach Charlie Elliott has his kids believeing that they can compete with any team they line up against on any given night.

And Elliott is brushing off comments from those people who question the level of competition the Eskymos have faced in their first nine games.

"They can challenge the schedule all they want, but we know that this is really big for our community," the first-year coach said. "Escanaba is a hockey community that is on the rise. Having success like this is a big deal. These games are making us better for the long run. These kids are taking it seriously. Winning is a learned trait."

The Eskymos faced some adversity on Tuesday, as Negaunee scored the first goal. Rudy Goupille was dragged to the ice by Eskymo senior Troy Rodman, but Goupille was able to somehow slip the puck past Eskymo goaltender Alex Wyckoff.

Goupille ended up on his butt (as this picture shows), but it was 1-0.

The Miner lead did not last long. Just over two minutes after Goupille scored, Mark Gauthier got behind the Negaunee defense and roofed a shot past goaltender Justin Farley, tying the game at 1-1.

Later in the first period, Hunter Bradford scored his second high school goal to put the Eskymos in front, 2-1. Then early in the second period, Bryce Wolf made a perfect pass to Ryan LaMarch, leading to LaMarch's fourth goal of the weekend, and a 3-1 Eskymo lead.

But Negaunee (6-5-0) got some life three minutes later, when defenseman Nathan Alexander skated from his own end of the ice into Eskymo territory, and beat Wyckoff for an unassisted goal that made it 3-2.

Escanaba answered less than three minutes later, when Farley took a tripping penalty. Gauthier made the Miner goaltender pay by scoring his second goal of the game off the faceoff, at the 8:18 mark, it was 4-2.

Then came a couple of those "dirty goals" that were a big part of the Monday night win over Kingsford. Jared Dagenais scored on a rebound at 13:23, then Brent Kallio scored 2:34 later in a scrum in front of the Miner net to make it a 6-2 hockey game after two periods.

"It's hard work down low that creates those opportunities," Elliott said. "Our defensemen are learning how to move the puck, how to read pressure, and it all starts with hard work in our end."

Gauthier ended up with two goals and an assist. LaMarch had a goal and a helper, and Mike Williams had a pair of assists. Elliott also had some praise for a couple of guys who had no points on Tuesday.

"Troy Rodman is doing a phenominal job for us," Elliott said, after Rodman was selected as the game's #1 star, ahead of Dan Williams (#2) and Mitch Dagenais (#3). "Anytime we coaches ask Troy to do something, he's risen to the occassion. And (defensemen) Nick Vandermissen and Mike Williams are working so well together. Especially for Nick, being a freshman. He is just getting better and better, learning as he goes."

And so the Eskymos enter 2010 on a high. They are 7-2-0, tied for the best start in school history. They don't play again until January 8th, when the team participates in the New Year's Holiday Tournament on the campus of Michigan Tech University.

KINGSFORD TAKES THIRD---The Kingsford Flivvers rallied to beat the L'Anse Purple Hornets, 4-3, Tuesday, to take third place in the tournament. Stephen Lessard scored two goals for the Flivvers (4-5-0).

THANK YOU, JOHN---Special thanks to the radio Voice of the Kingsford Flivvers, John Koehler, for doing the play-by-play broadcast of Tuesday's Escanaba-Negaunee game. Eskymo announcer Jack Hall had to travel with the Gladstone boys basketball team for a Tuesday night game in Lower Michigan, and had Koehler not stepped in, Tuesday's Eskymo game would not have been on the radio. So, thanks again, John.

A scrum in front of the Miner net during Tuesday's game. We can see Esky's Mark Gauthier (2) being confronted by Negaunee's Kyle Michaelson (14). But somewhere on the ice, under the pile, is Eskymo junior Josh Miller. (Lisa Dagenais photo)

Game 9--Escanaba 6, Negaunee 2
NEGAUNIE 1 1 0----2
ESCANABA 2 4 0----6

First Period
NEG 1-0: Goupille (una) 8:19
ESC 1-1: Gauthier 3 (Miller, M Williams) 10:35
ESC 2-1: Bradford 2 (Gauthier, M Williams) 16:30

Second Period
ESC 3-1: LaMarch 6 (Wolf) 2:38
NEG 2-3: Alexander (Clisch) 5:24
ESC 4-2: Gauthier 4 (Collegnon) 8:18 PPG
ESC 5-2: J Dagenais 2 (Hayes, LeMire) 13:23
ESC 6-2: Kallio 3 (M Williams, LaMarch) 15:57

Third Period
No scoring

Shots on goal: NEG 3-4-3=10; ESC 10-13-9=32.
Goalie Saves: NEG Farley 26/32; ESC Wyckoff 8/10.
Power Plays: NEG 0/4; ESC 1/4.
Penalties/Min: NEG 11/38; ESC 7/14.
Three stars: 1. Rodman, ESC; 2. D. Williams, ESC; 3. M. Dagenais, ESC.

A MERCY-KILLING AT WELLS

The red light is on behind Kingsford goaltender Jake Coe after Dan Williams (15) scored during his team's 8-0 win over the Flivvers Monday night in Wells.

Eskymos Spank Kingsford; Get Third Straight Shutout

WELLS---This "winning thing" is starting to feel mighty good for the Escanaba High School hockey team.

Instead of being on the wrong end of mercy-killings on the scoreboard, it's the Eskymos who are taking their turn at having some fun.

Escanaba was in complete control Monday night as they smacked the Kingsford Flivvers, 8-0, in a game that was called by the mercy rule less than two minutes into the third period.

"I thought we got better as the game went on," Eskymo Head Coach Charlie Elliott said. "We were a little suspect on the back line, but Alex Wyckoff held us in when he had to. We've got to clean that up. But we did a good job with puck possession in the offensive zone, and I thought that we made good on the chances that we had."

"Coach is trying to get us to bring up our intensity right out of the gate," Esky senior Troy Rodman said. "The (puck) cycling is coming along from the first day. It's working real good."

The only thing Elliott could find fault with was the team's sluggish start. The game was tied at 0-0 for the first 15 minutes of the game, but in the final two minutes of the period (periods are 17 minutes now), the Eskymos scored three times to take most of the suspense out of the game.

First it was junior Jared Dagenais, who got one of the "dirty" goals from in front of the net that Elliott has been asking for. And the goal was a big sigh of relief for Dagenais, who scored five goals during his freshman year but did not score one in all of the 2008-09 season.

"I felt very excited and happy to get that first goal. It was a 'garbage goal'," Dagenais said, then, nodding toward his mom, said, "She told me that I had to get a goal. I got it." Dagenais was named the game's #3 star.

Thirty-five seconds later, another dirty goal from in close, as Ryan LaMarch banged in a loose puck past a helpless goaltender Jake Coe.

"Ryan had, probably, his best game of the year," Elliott said. "He was consistent throughout the game. He kept working, which is what we expect out of him."

Then, with just 15 seconds left in the period, Mark Gauthier won a faceoff and found himself along the far post with the puck. He roofed it, and the Eskymos went to the dressing room with a 3-0 lead.

(You can hear replays of those three goals by clicking the "ESCANABA 8 KINGSFORD 0" button on the left side of this page).

Dan Williams and Troy Rodman each scored in the second period as the Eskymos outshot the Flivvers, 12-3. Then things got real embarrassing for Kingsford as Escanaba scored three goals on three shots to start the third period, ending the game on the mercy rule.

LaMarch had two of those goals and Rodman had the game-ender. Elliott was happy with the play of LaMarch, especially on the sixth goal when the sophomore taught the Kingsford defender a lesson about positioning.

"Ryan is a big boy, but he's also very skilled," Elliott said. "As we saw on that play, he did a good job of turning that defenseman inside-out. And he finished. He can definitely score when he puts his mind to it."

"We set up a faceoff play right off the beginning (of the period), and it worked great," LaMarch said. "I had to tie up the wing, and I did. The puck was just free, so I skated for it. We had a really good game tonight."

Mike Williams won faceoffs just before all three of those final goals.

"Faceoff intensity. We discussed that at length between the second and third periods," Elliott said. "Evidently, it sunk in, because I thought that's what tiltled the game totally for us."

LaMarch ended up with a hat trick plus one assist. Rodman had two goals and two assists. Dan Williams had a goal and two assists, and Casey Collegnon chipped in with two helpers. Rodman was an incredible +5 (plus-minus rating), while Mike Williams and Nick Vandermissen were both +4. Bryce Wolf, Dan Williams and LaMarch all had +3 ratings.

Alex Wyckoff stopped all ten shots he faced to earn his second straight shutout. The Eskymos have not allowed a goal in the last 96:40, and have had two mercy-killings amongst those three shutouts. Escanaba has had four shutout wins in its last five games.

"I'm proud of our boys," Elliott said. "They did a good job. But we still have work to do."

Escanaba improved to 6-2-0, while Kingsford's record fell to 3-5-0.

Escanaba junior Jared Dagenais celebrates scoring a goal in his team's 8-0 victory.

Game 8--Escanaba 8, Kingsford 0
KINGSFRD 0 0 0----0
ESCANABA 3 3 2----8

First Period
ESC 1-0: J. Dagenais 1 (LeMire, Bernard) 15:22
ESC 2-0: LaMarch 3 (Rodman, M Dagenais) 15:57
ESC 3-0: Gauthier 2 (D Williams, Collegnon) 16:45

Second Period
ESC 4-0: Rodman 5 (Collegnon, D Williams) 4:20
ESC 5-0: Rodman 6 (LaMarch) 5:17 PPG

Third Period
ESC 6-0: LaMarch 4 (M. Williams) 0:08
ESC 7-0: LaMarch 5 (Vandermissen) 0:40
ESC 8-0: Rodman 7 (D. Williams) 1:58

Shots on goal: KNG 7-3-0=10; ESC 15-12-4=31.
Goalie Saves: KNG Coe 22/30; ESC Wyckoff 10/10
Penalties/Min: KNG 4/8; ESC 4/8.
Power Plays: KNG 0/3; ESC 1/2.
Three stars: 1. LaMarch, ESC; 2. Rodman, ESC; 3. J. Dagenais, ESC.

Negaunee Starts Slow; Rallies Past L'Anse

Negaunee's Nathan Alexander celebrates a shorthanded goal in the Miners' 6-2 win over L'Anse Monday night at the Dick Johnsen Tournament in Escanaba. The Hornets had a 2-0 lead before the Miners rallied. Pictured at right: Negaunee senior Tyler Nault, who sat out with an ankle injury. He also needs some Visine for his red eyes.

MORE ESKYMO HARDWARE!

The Escanaba Eskymos pose with their Gil Versailles Memorial Tournament championship trophy after beating Negaunee, 2-0, Saturday. The scoreboard behind the kids tells the story. It's the second tournament trophy won by the Eskymos so far this season, after also winning in Alpena on Nov. 20. (David Williams photo)

Eskymos Win Second Tournament Of Season

WELLS---Seven games into the 2009-10 hockey season, the Escanaba Eskymos have already done what no Esky team has ever done: win two tournament championships in one season. The building of the Eskymo program met another milestone on Saturday as Escanaba beat Negaunee, 2-0, to win the Gil Versailles Memorial Tournament title.
For some of the powerhouse teams around the state, this would be no big deal. After all, you're supposed to win a tournament on your home ice.
But for an Eskymo program that's taking steps toward joining the big teams on the big stage, this is a big deal. And so adding that trophy to the one they won in Alpena three weeks ago felt mighty good.
"I think that we put together a complete hockey game," Eskymo Head Coach Charlie Elliott said. "The kids stuck with the game-plan. We did what we had to do under each condition that we were given. I'm proud of the boys. They deserve to win that trophy."
"This tournament hasn't been won by Esky in a long time, ten years or something like that," Eskymo senior captain Mike Williams said. "It's nice. I haven't won a lot of trophies for a long time in hockey."
"We came to win it," Eskymo senior Troy Rodman said. "(Dave) Wilson (Escanaba's Athletic Director) told us that he wanted to give us the trophy on Saturday. So, we got him what he wanted."
The Eskymos beat a Negaunee team that just eleven days earlier had handed them a 6-4 setback. This time, the Eskymos controlled the play, despite spending most of the afternoon in the penalty box.

The Miners had eleven...count 'em, eleven...power plays, including three long 5-on-3 opportunities. But out of all of those chances, Negaunee managed a grand total of three shots on goal.
"The refs were calling it real tight for both teams," Rodman said. "We played most of the game shorthanded, which was real tough. Coach was just picking people off the bench to see who was going next (for the next penalty kill.) "
When informed that his team had killed off eleven power plays, Rodman sighed and said, "It felt like it!"
"It was tough," Williams admitted. "Those penalties were killing us."
What did the coach think about all the time on special teams?
"There are times where penalties come from laziness, and there's times where penalties come from hard work," Elliott said. "Today was a day where we got penalties from just working hard. I'll take those penalties."
Escanaba was called for twelve minor penalties. Negaunee was whistled for eight minor penalties, and a pair of ten-minute misconducts.
Negaunee was playing without its star player, Tyler Nault, who had ankle surgery last week after scoring a hat trick against the Eskymos. But Escanaba was also playing without a key player, Brent Kallio, who sat his second straight game for disciplinary reasons. Kallio had scored two goals and assisted on another in the same game that Nault had his hat trick.
Both Eskymo goals came on the power play Saturday. Williams scored on his own rebound late in the first period, and senior Casey Collegnon slammed one into the net early in the second period after a pinpoint pass from fellow senior Mark Gauthier.
"I walked it in, took a shot, and the rebound came back to me," Williams said of his goal. "Just bounced it up over the goalie. Nothing fancy."
(You can hear replays of both Eskymo goals by clicking the 'ESCANABA 2 NEGAUNEE 0' button on the left side of this page)
After that, Miners goaltender Justin Farley slammed the door, making 30 saves on the afternoon. At the other end, Eskymo goalie Alex Wyckoff barely broke a sweat as he faced just eight shots on goal all afternoon long. Wyckoff's best effort didn't even count as a save.
On a four-on-four situation in the third period, Wyckoff made a sweet poke-check of the puck away from Dylan Etelmaki just before the Miner forward was ready to tap the puck into a wide-open net.
"I thought we controlled the tempo of the game," Elliott said. "We controlled the offensive zone, and I thought our 'D' played very well. Our physical game was good, and if it weren't for (Farley), it might have been even better for us."
Escanaba (5-2) takes the Christmas week off, then gets ready to host another tournament: the Dick Johnsen Memorial Tournament Dec. 28-29. And the foes will be familiar: Kingsford, Negaunee and L'Anse. The Eskymos will play Kingsford at 8:00 in the first round on Dec. 28.

Top photo: Escanaba captain Mike Williams is congratulated after scoring a goal. Bottom photo: Esky Coach Charlie Elliott gives instructions during a time-out.

Game 7--Escanaba 2, Negaunee 0
NEGAUNEE 0 0 0----0
ESCANABA 1 1 0----2

First Period
ESC 1-0: M Williams 4 (Rodman, LaMarch) 13:15 PPG

Second Period
ESC 2-0: Collegnon 4 (Gauthier, D Williams) 0:18 5/3PPG

Third Period
No scoring.

Shots on goal: NEG 3-2-3=8; ESC 9-12-11=32.
Goalie Saves: NEG Farley 30/32; ESC Wyckoff 8/8.
Penalties/Min: NEG 10/36; ESC 12/24.
Power Plays: NEG 0/11; ESC 2/6.
Three stars: 1. M Williams, ESC; 2. Vandermissen, ESC; 3. Rodman, ESC.

Flivvers Take Third Place At Esky Tournament

Kingsford's Max Smith goes in on a breakaway, and scores one of his two goals Saturday as the Flivvers beat Northwest Michigan, 10-2, to take third place in the Gil Versailles Memorial Tournament in Escanaba. Ted Pietila also scored two goals.

SUCCESSFUL TOURNEY OPENER

Eskymo captain Mike Williams rifles a shot on goal during his team's 8-0 win over the Northwestern Michigan Warriors Friday night. (Lisa Dagenais photo)

Eskymos Cruise To Mercy-Shortened Victory

WELLS----The Escanaba Eskymos took care of business Friday night against a young Northwest Michigan Warriors team. Now, the team will look for redemption against the Negaunee Miners on Saturday.

Troy Rodman and Cody Cousineau each scored twice and four other Eskymos scored goals as Escanaba topped the Traverse City-area team, 8-0.

The game was called by the mercy rule when Rodman scored his second goal midway through the third period.

Escanaba Coach Charlie Elliott was pleased, for the most part, in how his team played. The team was in action for the first time in ten days.

"We had the puck a lot, and that was good," the coach said. "We did a lot of really good, hard work to get the puck to the right areas. Getting the puck to the point was a big part of our success. We just wore them out. They were light on players (only eleven skaters)."

Mike Williams scored the team's first goal 3:23 into the game, then the Eskymos took the suspense out of the game by scoring three times in a span of 4:09 late in the first period. Casey Collegnon, Cousineau and Rodman all scored as the Eskymos outshot the Warriors, 24-5, in the opening period. There was no scoring in the second period, and frankly, it was a rather boring period of hockey that didn't sit well with Elliott.

"We got lazy. We kept expecting the game to come to us," Elliott said. "A lot of perimeter play. Not the stuff championship teams are made of."

"Coach was very disappointed with how we played in the second period," Cousineau said. "We probably should have put them away in the second, but we slacked off, and that's what happens."

"Coach was losing his voice," Eskymo sophomore Hunter Bradford smiled. "He told us to come out and play hard (in the third period) for our fans."

They did. The Eskymos were fired up to start the third period, and it didn't take long to dispatch of the Warriors.

Kirk Millette's power play goal 34 seconds into the period (Esky's third power play goal of the night) made it 5-0. Then Bradford scored his first goal as an Eskymo when he made a nice tip of a Cousineau shot at the 2:32 mark of the period.

"It was just a high pass to the point and a hard shot to the net," Bradford said. "It was there, and I just tipped it in. It feels great."

Cousineau tallied his second goal of the game (and of his career) three minutes later, then at the 9:37 mark, Rodman flipped one past Warriors goaltender Tyler Jensen to end the game on the mercy rule. Jensen was overworked in net, facing 49 Eskymo shots. Escanaba goaltender Austin Young stopped all ten shots he faced to earn the victory.

(You can hear replays of the goals by Millette and Bradford by clicking the 'ESCANABA 8 NW MICHIGAN 0' button on the left side of this page)

Escanaba will try to win the championship of its own tournament for the first time in years on Saturday, when the Eskymos face the Negaunee Miners. The Eskymos will be trying to make up for a 6-4 loss to the Miners last week in Negaunee.

"We can't take Negaunee easy," Cousineau said. "We've got to take it to them hard. We've got to hit. We've got to shoot. We've got to keep the intensity up."

Top: Escanaba's Mark Gauthier (2), Casey Collegnon (22), and Dan Williams (15) crowd the net in front of NW Michigan goaltender Tyler Jensen. Bottom left: the Eskymos celebrate one of their eight goals. Bottom right: Virginia Versailles (red coat), the wife of the late Gil Versailles, drops the ceremonial first puck before Friday night's game. The tournament is named after Versailles for all of the work he did as a statistician, public address announcer, and board member. He died in 1998.

Game 6---Escanaba 8, NW Michigan 0
NW MICHI 0 0 0----0
ESCANABA 4 0 4----8

First Period
ESC 1-0: M Williams 3 (Collegnon) 3:23
ESC 2-0: Collegnon 3 (Millette, Gauthier) 12:10 PPG
ESC 3-0: Cousineau 1 (una) 13:36
ESC 4-0: Rodman 3 (LaMarch) 16:19 PPG

Second Period
No scoring.

Third Period
ESC 5-0: Millette 1 (Vandermissen, Gauthier) 0:34 PPG
ESC 6-0: Bradford 1 (Cousineau, Rodman) 2:32
ESC 7-0: Cousineau 2 (Miller, Rodman) 5:59
ESC 8-0: Rodman 4 (M Williams) 9:37

Shots on goal: NWM 5-2-3=10; ESC 24-14-11=49.
Goalie Saves: NWM Jensen 41/49; ESC Young 10/10.
Penalties/Min: NWM 7/22; ESC 4/8.
Power Plays: NWM 0/3; ESC 3/5.
Three stars: 1. Cousineau, ESC; 2. J. Dagenais, ESC; 3. Bradford, ESC.

Negaunee Beats Kingsford In Physical Battle

Kingsford's Matt Wiitanen (10) crashes the net, waiting for a pass from teammate Cody Crockford (15). Right: Negaunee's Evan Leaf (7) checks to see if teammate Rudy Goupille is OK after he took a big hit in Friday night's game. In a physical battle, Negaunee's Eric LaBelle s