MARQUETTE - Jim Crawford will have to wait to register his 500th win.
Marquette Senior High School's hockey team kept the longtime Calumet coach from reaching the coveted milestone Thursday night by forging a 6-6 overtime tie with the visiting Copper Kings.
Kyle Carriere and Eric Chapman scored two goals apiece as the Redmen (11-9-3 overall) captured the Great Lakes High School Hockey Conference title for the 11th straight season. MSHS finishes at 6-0-2 in the league.
Crawford and the Copper Kings (17-5-2, 6-1-1) nearly had a night to remember after taking a 5-4 lead late in the second period.
"(The milestone) was the last thing on my mind," said Crawford, in his 28th season at the Calumet helm. "It's just the way it goes.
"I'm only disappointed we didn't win the league."
Fact Box
First period - 1. CAL, Bryce Johnson (Parks), 5:27; 2. MQT, Kyle Carriere (Chapman, Folker), 5:35; 3. MQT, Cam Verigin (Schwemin, Weston), 6:58; 4. CAL, Levi Erkkila (Jacques, Sturos), 12:01.
Second period - 5. MQT, Collin Schwemin (unassisted), ppg., :22; 6. MQT, Eric Chapman (unassisted), 1:19; 7. CAL, Lucas Lahnala (Erkkila, Sturos), 5:37; 8. CAL, Benjamin Storm (Jacques), 12:41; 9. CAL, Erkkila (Jacques, Lahnala), ppg., 14:30; 10. MQT, Chapman (Smith, Carriere), ppg., 16:43.
Third period - 11. MQT, Carriere (Smith, Schwemin), 6:28; 12. CAL, Byron Parks (unassisted), 9:08.
Penalties: Calumet, 2-4; Marquette, 5-18
Goalie saves: Calumet, 26 (Tyler Kangas, 10-9-6-1); Marquette, 46 (Evan Kyle, 16-10-13-7)
The Copper Kings next play Thursday night in regional tournament action at MacInnes Student Ice Arena against L'Anse.
Levi Erkkila notched two goals for Calumet, which needed a marker by Byron Parks with 7:52 left in regulation time to force the tie despite outshooting MSHS 52-32 in the game.
"We didn't have a good defensive game," Crawford said. "But we kept pounding away and certainly had a chance to win."
Cam Verigin and Collin Schwemin also scored for Marquette, which took a 4-2 lead in the first 1:19 of the second period on unassisted tallies by Schwemin and Chapman.
"They say a two-goal lead is the most dangerous one," Carriere said. "We might have let up, thinking we had them beat, but there was too much time left in the game.
"If we had gotten another one, (Calumet) might have let up."
Lucas Lahnala, Ben Storm and Erkkila - his second on the night and coming on a power play - scored to enable the Copper Kings to rally for a one-goal advantage late in the middle period.
Erkkila now has a team-leading 29 goals.
"They're a potent team and there were a lot of momentum swings tonight," Papin said. "We'll take the tie."
Marquette's Chapman notched a power-play marker with just 17 seconds left in the stanza, however, to make it 5-5.
Carriere got a nice feed from Schwemin at the 6:28 of the third period to make it 6-5 with a goal.
"Schwemin showed some patience behind the net and made a great play," Carriere said. "I just got a nice one-time shot off.
"It was a little motivation for us to hold their coach from getting his 500th win against us."
Parks' wrister somehow found the back of the net in a crowd to send the game into an eight-minute extra period.
"Senior Night is always an emotional game," Papin said. "And we were missing four players to sickness and injuries against the No. 2-ranked team in Division 3 in the state.
"We knew (the Copper Kings) could score goals and I'm proud of my guys. We forechecked well and were patient. We didn't over-commit.
"It was a great high school hockey game," he added.
Calumet goaltender Tyler Kangas made 26 saves; Marquette's Evan Kyle came up with 46 stops, seven in overtime.