MARQUETTE — Kyle Krutina scored a hat trick Friday night, helping the Escanaba Eskymos skate to a 6-3 hockey victory over the Traverse Bay Area Reps in the Marquette Shootout.

Krutina scored Esky’s second goal on a faceoff won by teammate Ethan Silverstone and gave the Eskymos a 4-0 cushion on a pass from Joe Jacobson late in the first period.

The Reps scored twice in the second frame and trimmed their deficit to 4-3 early in the third.

“We put quite a bit of pressure on them in the first period,” said Esky coach Matt Hughes. “We put a lot of pucks on net and good things happened for us. We kind of let up in the second period and they took advantage of that.”

Krutina completed his hat trick just 30 seconds after the Reps concluded their scoring.

“That’s one of the key points we talked about,” said Hughes. “It was important for us to respond. Kyle made a nice backhanded shot and went top shelf.”

Nick Kolich added an empty-net goal from the neutral zone with four seconds remaining.

Aiden Mylander and Christer Carne also scored in the opening frame.

Esky was outshot 30-23. Junior goaltender Trevor Denome stopped 23 shots.

“Trevor played well,” said Hughes. “We had some breakdowns in our defensive zone, but Trevor came up with big saves at key moments in the game. This was a good win, especially against a team ranked 13th in Division 1.

Esky (3-3) faces Holland West Ottawa today at 1.