WELLS — At some point during this hockey season maybe, just maybe, the Escanaba Eskymos will finally post a victory over one of the Copper Country teams.

That didn’t quite happen here Friday night, however, as the Eskymos dropped a 4-3 decision to the Calumet Copper Kings.

Sophomore Graham Johnson’s one-timer from near the blue line brought the Eskymos within a goal with one minute, 48 seconds left in a match-up between two of the younger teams in the Upper Peninsula.

During a time-out with 65 seconds remaining, the Eskymos elected to pull sophomore goaltender Cully Hayes to add an extra attacker but were unable to convert, enabling the Copper Kings to leave Delta County with their first victory.

“It feels good to win a hockey game,” Calumet coach Dan Giachino said. “We probably play the fifth and sixth toughest schedules in the state. With 11 freshmen and sophomores we’ve been fighting from behind. This was a little bit of a different scenario for us. We’ve been right there, but we’ve been playing from behind against good teams.”

Esky, which trailed 4-2 after the second stanza, fell to 4-6 overall and 0-4 against Copper Country teams. Calumet improved to 1-6-2.

“It was a good game,” Esky coach Andy Johnson said. “We had a lot of good opportunities. I thought the effort was good in our offensive zone. With them playing the teams they do, you can’t look at their record at all. They play good hockey.”

The score was tied at two after the opening frame.

Sophomore Luca Matous gave Calumet a 3-2 lead on a one-timer from five feet in front of the blue line with four minutes, 28 seconds left in the second period.

The Copper Kings then extended their lead to two goals with 34 seconds remaining in the period on sophomore forward Ben Anderson’s marker from the slot.

“This is a lot better than coming out of here with a loss,” Giachino said. “This gives us a little better feeling going into a 3-4 day break.”

Esky opened the scoring on junior Alex Schwalbach’s shot from the high slot on a power play 2:41 into the contest.

Junior forward Brendan Boberg’s rebound from the low slot tied the score at 8:36 and sophomore forward Erik Loukus gave Calumet a 2-1 lead from the slot less than two minutes later.

The Eskymos tied the contest with 48 seconds left in the first on Graham Johnson’s first tally from the low slot.

“I didn’t think our first-period effort was where we needed it to be,” coach Johnson said. “We moved Brett Labre back on defense and Nolan Bink to forward. Once we made that adjustment it gave us a little more spark for the second and third periods. Both of us (teams) are in the same boat,

trying to put three periods together. For us this season it’s a lot of coaching, getting players where they need to be. It’s going to be a season-long process, but I think we’ll be where we need to be in February. We’re learning.”

Calumet, which outshot Esky 38-33, got 30 saves from senior goaltender Hunter Tuoriniemi. Hayes stopped 34 shots.

Esky faces Lansing Capitol City Wednesday and Lakewood, Oh. St. Edward Thursday in the Alpena Showcase.

Calumet meets Hancock in the opening round of the John MacInnes Memorial tournament at Michigan Tech Wednesday.

Calumet 2 2 0 — 4

Escanaba 2 0 1 — 3

Scoring plays:

First period

E — Schwalbach (unassisted) power play, 2:41

C — Boberg (B. Anderson), 8:36

C — E. Loukus (B. Anderson), 10:28

E — Johnson (Carter), 16:12

Second period

C — Matous (C. Anderson, Boberg), 12:32

C — B. Anderson (Boberg, Londo), 16:26

Third period

E — Johnson (Carter), 15:12

Statistics

Shots on goal: Calumet 38, Escanaba 33

Power plays: Calumet 1-2, Escanaba 1-2

Goaltender saves: Escanaba (Hayes 34), Calumet (Tuoriniemi 30)

Penalty minutes: Escanaba 2-4, Calumet 2-4.