Todd Rose | Daily Press The Escanaba hockey team celebrates after winning against Painesdale-Jeffers Saturday in Escanaba.

WELLS — The Escanaba Eskymos hockey team closed its regular season on a high note Saturday as they defeated the Jeffers Jets 9-1 via the mercy rule in Wells.

The final goal of the game to end things early — with 9:39 remaining in the third period — was scored by Sawyer LaMarche unassisted.

With the win, the Eskymos end their regular season with a record of 17-9.

In addition to being the final home game of the season, the game also doubled as Senior Night for the team as senior Eskymos Bryce Buchbinder, Karson Krutina, Jayger LaMarche, Clayton Smith and Dylan Ziemke were honored following the game.

Between that and rebounding from a 5-3 loss against Hancock, Escanaba coach Andy Johnson was happy with how the game played out.

“It’s great,” Johnson said. “The way we played up in Hancock, we came put in the first period and were flat up there. So, to come out in the first period and start working hard and start putting pucks in the second, it’s a good lift into playoffs.”

Jayger LaMarche — who earned a hat trick — announced the Eskymos presence with authority 42 seconds into the game as he buried a puck deep in the net off the assist from brother Sawyer LaMarche.

Jayger’s second and third goals came in the third period at 29 seconds and 3:51 into the period.

The second Esky goal came 12:49 into the first period, with Gunner Bourdeau slinging one in with the assists from Sawyer LaMarche and Karson Krutina.

The second period saw Eskymos goals from Brayden Martineau, two from Krutina and another from Bourdeau.

Following the strong Escanaba start, Jeffers made a change in the goal as Mathias Anderson took over for Simon Rajala, something that surprised Johnson.

“We were playing good in the first and (Rajala) is very good. I’m not sure why they pulled him so early because I know he’s a good goalie, and he can come back from that,” he said. “But, they pulled, and our boys just kept coming and started putting the puck in the net in the second.”

As a smaller team from a numbers perspective, the Eskymos have progressed quite a bit since the first puck drop of the season back in November.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Johnson. “We have a small team, and in the beginning, we were getting tired because we play a little bit more physical game. But, know, toward the end of the season here, the boys are in game shape, ready for playoffs, and it’s fun to watch.”

The only goal of the game for the Jets came in the second period and was off the stick of Trayton Helminen. He was assisted by Brent Heinonen and Kyle Heltunen.

Jeffers, despite Helminen’s goal, never bounced back from the early Escanaba attack said coach Pat Nettell.

“They kind of jumped on us and played physical and we kind of shied away,” Nettell said. “We just didn’t bounce back from that a couldn’t get our groove going.”

Nettell added the game being the third of the week for the Jets also might have contributed to the loss.

“We just played Calumet last night (Friday), and we played Negaunee on Tuesday,” he said. “We’ve been playing a lot of hockey, and I think we just ran out of steam.”

While the Jeffers Jets — who finish their regular season 7-12-2 — host Calumet for an MHSAA Regional 17 semifinal on Wednesday, the Eskymos wait until Thursday to head to Iron Mountain to play Kingsford in their playoff opener.

“They’re well-coached, so we can’t look past them at all,” said Escanaba coach Andy Johnson. “We have to go there and play good hockey. I think if we play our game we will be alright.”

The Eskymos and Flivvers have faced off twice this season, with Escanaba winning both games — 3-1 (Nov. 16, 2021) and 5-2 (Jan. 6).

The MHSAA Regional 9 semifinal game between the Flivvers and Eskymos is scheduled for 7:00 eastern time.