Escanaba junior Nolan Bink (right) celebrates scoring a shorthanded goal against Ashwaubenon with senior Cale carter on Feb. 11, 2025 at the Hannahville Ice and Turf Complex. (Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press)

WELLS — Senior night has a tendency to bring emotion and uncharacteristic play for a team.

Escanaba hockey fell victim to that in moments against Ashwaubenon (Wis.) but ultimately pulled away with an 8-5 win on Tuesday.

“We needed to be better in the defensive zone,” Esky head coach Andy Johnson said. ” I thought we played well in the offensive zone. We just needed to play a little harder in the defensive zone.”

Everything started great for the Eskymos (14-9). Junior Keagan Braun scored on the team’s first shot of the game. Junior Nolan Bink added a shorthanded goal moments later.

Then the forward group suffered another setback. Freshman Griffin Johnson exited the game grabbing onto his left wrist. Further testing revealed that the freshman’s season is over due to a broken wrist.

Griffin Johnson joins junior Carson Hughes as top six forwards to suffer season-ending injuries.

“We know how to play in chaos,” Andy Johnson said. “We don’t get frustrated, we don’t give up. We keep fighting, and we grinded this one out being down one of our top six forwards.”

Despite the setback the Eskymos took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to freshman Gunnar LaMarche’s first career goal and claimed a 6-2 lead in the third period.

Then the Jaguars rattled off three-straight goals past junior goalie Cully Hayes, and all of a sudden it was a 6-5 Eskymos lead with less than 10 minutes to go and momentum swayed toward the Jaguars bench.

But it’s only fitting that an Eskymos senior went on to seal the win. In this case it was defenseman Alex Schwalbach who scored with less than five minutes to go for a 7-5 lead and iced the game with a full-ice empty net goal with 1:26 remaining to seal an 8-5 win.

Schwalbach finished with two goals and an assist. Graham Johnson tallied two goals and two helpers. Senior Cale Carter added a goal and two assists. Junior Owen Labonte produced three assists.

The Eskymos have one last test this weekend before regional action begins as part of the Sault Ste. Marie Showcase. Esky collides with the Bay Area Reps at 7 p.m. Friday and faces No. 1 Orchard Lake St. Mary at 3 p.m. Saturday.

After that, it’s a regional semifinal matchup against Kingsford at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.

“All week in practice we’ve been going harder in practice because playoffs are coming up,” Schwalbach said. “We just have to change are mindset and work harder in practice.”