Eskymo hockey ready for 2026-27 season
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WELLS -- It will be a year for youth for the Escanaba Eskymos hockey team after the departure of 8 seniors this years team is composed of three seniors Brody Levesque, Parker Menard and Morgun Lynch seven juniors Mason Couch, Jacob Freel, Griffin Johnson, Trevin Mattonen, Ian Freel, Nick Martinson and Gunnar LaMarche two sophomores Todd Noel and Chase Korpi and seven freshmen Vincent DeSalvo-Bougie, Bryson Bougie, Garrett Lanaville, Jager Gartland, Cooper Neidbala, Jayce Braun and Jaxsyn Lancour.
Andy Johnson enters his sixth season as the Eskymos and was in this exact position four years ago when they had eight freshmen on the team.
"It's going to take them a while to get up to the speed of the varsity game," Johnson said. "They have a lot of talent so once they get up to speed we should be in a good spot."
The Eskymos also have the toughest schedule they have had under Johnson in his six years as they face some of the top teams in the state including Hartland and Grand Rapids Christian who will both be coming to Escanaba. The Eskymos open their season Friday as they host the Marquette Sentinels. The Eskymos also have big games against Reeths-Puffer and Traverse City Central as well as a road game against the Houghton Gremlins in what has become a bigger rivalry over the past couple seasons as well as a home game against the Ashland Oredockers who are one of the top teams in Wisconsin over the past few years.
"We want to play good teams," Nick Martinson said. "It makes us better playing good teams and it’s always great to get to match up with the best of the best in the state. Martinson will serve as a co-captain with Griffin Johnson while Levesque and LaMarche will be the assistant captains this season.
The excitement level coming into this season is high with players chomping at the bit to get on the ice in game action.
"We have a lot of excitement around this team," Andy Johnson said. "We have some returning players, a few of them are probably some of the best players in the state and we also have a really good group of new guys between freshman and upper classmen that can really fill some rolls of guys that left last year."
The minutes that Griffin has seen since his freshman year he has really turned into one of the top defencemen in the state in all divisions and Nick is in the same category as Griffin except on the offensive side as a forwards one of the best in the state.
The Eskymos also have senior Brody Levesque who really came on in the last couple weeks of the season last year and even had a hat trick he is also ready to get this season underway.
"Getting the hat trick in the playoffs was huge," Levesque said. "It made it better to have it happen at home. All the fans got to see it and that really made me happy. It shows that all the hard work has paid off."
The biggest strength for the Eskymos this season is speed.
"I feel like we have a ton of speed on the ice," Andy Johnson said. That will be our biggest strength this season. We have guys who can skate fast, we move pucks well and we will need that to cover for our inexperience as a very young team but we will grow as the season moves on."
Griffin Johnson stated that this is a big season for the Eskymos and the excitement surrounding Friday night is at an all-time high.
"I'm super excited to get things going Friday, Griffin Johnson said. It was a tough week of practice but I feel like these guys are jumping getting ready for the opener and getting to play some of the top teams in the state will definitely add some adversity to the season but I relish the opportunity and get us ready for a good season and hopefully a postseason run."
The game against Marquette is scheduled to start at 6:30 Friday night at the Hannahville Ice and Turf at the Wells Sports Complex.