Hancock ices Esky
WELLS — The Hancock hockey team held off an Escanaba rally in the third period to pull out a 5-3 victory Saturday at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex.
“Overall I don’t think we did too bad,” said Hancock coach Dan Rouleau. “We did a very good job of killing penalties.”
One of the reasons the Bulldogs did a good job of killing penalties was junior goalkeeper Dawson Kero.
“When you’re killing penalties you end up taking a lot of saves,” said Rouleau. “Your goalie is usually your best penalty killer and today he was.”
Escanaba coach Matt Hughes liked the way his team stood in there and played hard down the stretch.
“I thought we played better as the game went on,” said Hughes. “Obviously we gave up some goals in the first. I thought we battled well in the second and the boys were resilient and really played hard in the third.”
Hancock started the scoring in the first period with goals from senior Lance Kangas and sophomore Alex Nordstrom as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead after the first period.
The Eskymos outshot the Bulldogs in the first period 13-7.
Hancock added to its lead in the second period when Nordstrom scored his second goal. Escanaba remained scoreless after two periods as the Bulldogs led 3-0 heading into the final period.
The Eskymos again outshot Hancock 12-9 in the second period.
Honcock scored right away in the third period to go up 4-0 on a power play from senior Devyn LaCourt.
Escanaba finally got on the board at the 8:20 mark of the third period with a power play goal from senior Garth Wickham. Wickham scored again 47 seconds later.
After another goal by the Bulldogs, Wickham scored again on a power play for the Eskymos for a hat-trick.
“He played hard and showed up to the rink with a chip on his shoulder today,” said Hughes. “It’s possibly his last (home) game as a senior and he really wanted to make the best of it. He worked hard and he was doing all the right things today.”
Escanaba travels to Marquette Feb. 28 to open post-season tourney play.
Hancock 2 1 2 — 5
Escanaba 0 0 3 — 3
First Period
H — Kangas, 9:00
H — Nordstrom (Lepisto, B. Randell), 13:56
Second Period
H — Nordstrom (Kangas), 7:02
Third Period
H — LaCourt (Perrault, Kangas), 3:10
E — Ga. Wickham (C. Carne), 8:20
E — Ga. Wickham (P. Carne, Egner), 9:07
H — Tchida (Budweg), 10:52
E — Ga. Wickham (LeMire, LaMarch), 12:36
Shots on goal: Escanaba 38, Hancock 25
Goaltender saves: Hancock — Kero 35; Escanaba — Goddard 20