Escanaba junior Keagan Braun (21) scores a goal on Manistique goalie Jackson Goudreau on Feb. 4, 2025 at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex.

ESCANABA — A strong second period performance led Escanaba hockey to a 8-0 victory over Manistique here Tuesday.

The Eskymos got the first goal with 14:56 to go in the second period as Ben Sands scored off assists by Cale Carter and Nick Martinson.

With 8:52 to go in the second Martinson made a nice move to find the back of the net off assists by Carter and Davin Mattonen to extend the Eskymos lead to 2-0. Moments later, Martinson again found the back of the net with assists by Sands and Alex Schwalbach, extending the Eskymos lead to 3-0.

“We weren’t playing bad as a team early,” Martinson said. “We just had to make some adjustments and get the pucks deep and we started getting good shots and capitalizing on them.”

With 5:07 to go in the second frame, Keagan Braun made a nice move and took the puck off assists by Sands and Nolan Bink and the Eskymos led 4-0.

“It was a tight shot,” Braun said. “I just saw it on the right side of the net and was able to pop it in past the goalie.”

The Eskymos added another goal with 2:59 to go in the second stanza as Hunter Allen made a nice pass to Graham Johnson who found the back of the net and the Eskymos led 5-0. With :23 to go in the second Johnson again got one past Emeralds goalie Jackson Goudreau and the Eskymos led 6-0.

“We did a good job of getting good shots on goal,” Eskymos’ coach Andy Johnson said. “Graham had a couple hit the pipes early, but if you keep giving him opportunities he will take advantage of them.”

The Eskymos picked up right where they left off to start the third period as Graham Johnson scored an unassisted goal with 10:11 to go in the third to complete the hat trick and the Eskymos led 7-0.

“You could hang your head on hitting the post,” Graham Johnson said. “I knew I was getting good shots on goal so I just kept at it and the shots started to drop for us in the second period.”

Nolan Bink capped off the scoring on an unassisted goal with 5:07 to go in the third which ended the game on the mercy rule.

The Eskymos and Emeralds skated to a scoreless first period where the Emeralds came out very tough on defense.

“Our structure was very good in the first period,” Emeralds’ coach Mike Evink said. “There was some stuff that we specifically discussed and were working on and it kind of fell apart in the second period. We lost our structure, but came back playing better again in the third period.

The Eskymos will be back in action Friday when they travel to DePere, Wis.