Ryan Stieg | Marquette Mining Journal Marquette’s Ansel Frost, right, tries to tuck a rebound past Escanaba goalie Dylan Ziemke, center, during the second period of their MHSAA Division 2 regional championship hockey game played at Lakeview Arena in Marquette on Saturday. Also pictured are the Redmen’s Jacob Garrow, second from left, and the Eskymos’ Braden Sundquist, left.

MARQUETTE — On Thursday night, the Marquette hockey team opened the MHSAA Division 2 regionals by catching fire offensively and scoring nine goals in an easy win over Negaunee.

Then on Saturday afternoon against Escanaba, it was much the same story for the Redmen, just with not as many goals.

Marquette romped 6-1 to win the regional title at Lakeview Arena, outshooting the Eskymos 46-17.

Jackson Potulny, Jack Sides and Dylan Baldwin each had two goals for the Redmen, who now travels downstate to face Traverse City Central in the state quarterfinal on Tuesday night in Gaylord.

“We had a lot of shots (and) it was similar to the game we played last time, we only beat them 2-0, but the shots on goal were about the same,” Redmen head coach Doug Garrow said. “So our goal was just to put pucks on net and keep it low to get rebounds and that’s what happened.

“We had a couple nice goals early to give us a 2-0 lead, which in a game like this when you’re favored, the quicker you can get the lead, the more relaxed the players can feel. So that’s what happened.”

Marquette started putting pressure on the Eskymos right from the outset, but EHS goalie Dylan Ziemke stood tall as he robbed the Redmen’s Owen Riipi twice.

Eventually the Redmen pressure paid off as Potulny beat Ziemke top shelf 2:59 in to break the scoreless seal. A little more than two minutes later, the Redmen struck again as Sides tapped in a rebound to put Marquette up 2-0 going to the second period.

Escanaba started to fight back in the middle period and cut its deficit to one when a shot by Nick Kolich went off Marquette goalie Brennan Hakkola’s pad and trickled into the net with 14:53 left.

Marquette wasn’t deterred, though, and took advantage of its next good scoring chance. Just seven seconds into a power play, Sides deflected a shot from Joe DeMattia into the net to make it 3-1 with 8:01 remaining.

One wouldn’t be enough, though. A great individual effort by Potulny ended up with him snapping a shot past Ziemke with 5:15 left and Dylan Baldwin finished off the period with a tally on a partial breakaway to give Marquette a 5-1 advantage going into the third.

For the second straight playoff game, Potulny had multiple goals and he talked about how the Redmen stuck with their game plan.

“I’m feeling amazing, my team just played so hard today,” he said. “We played so hard, we got pucks low, put shots on net and we won the game.”

In desperation mode at this point, the Eskymos started blasting shots from the point with Kadon Hayes and Gunner Bourdeau almost getting their attempts past Hakkola. But the senior stayed sharp and Baldwin put the finishing touches on the victory with a rebound goal at the 6:28 mark.

“We knew coming into it our chances were going to be limited and we were going to have to take advantage of the chances that we got,” Escanaba head coach Matt Hughes said. “Unfortunately, Marquette kept us down to about 15 shots for the whole game and we just couldn’t generate any offense.”

Marquette 6, Escanaba 1

Summary:

First period– 1. MQT, Jackson Potulny (Taylor) 2:59; 2. MQT, Jack Sides (Phillips) 1:16.

Second period– 3. ESC, Nick Kolich (Smith) 14:53; 4. MQT, Sides (DeMattia, Nemacheck) ppg 8:01; 5. MQT, Potulny (Phillips) 5:15; 6. MQT, Dylan Baldwin (Frost, Taylor) 1:57.

Third period– 7. MQT, Baldwin (Potulny, Taylor) ppg 6:28.

Power-play opportunities: Escanaba 0 of 2, Marquette 2 of 4

Penalties: Escanaba 4-8, Marquette 2-4

Goalie saves: Escanaba, Dylan Ziemke 40 (10-8-22); Marquette, Brennan Hakkola 16 (6-4-6)