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They’ll take it

Loukus scores weird goal in OT?to give Caumet the win

Daily Mining Gazette/Bryce Derouin Calumet’s Brent Loukus looks to score against Rochester United’s Adam Doran during the first period Friday at the Calumet Colosseum. Loukus scored twice on the night in Calumet’s 2-1 win.

CALUMET — Dan Giachino said it wasn’t the prettiest goal he’s seen, and sophomore Brent Loukus was surprised to see it even go in.

But you never apologize for any overtime goal, and you take them when you can get them.

Loukus netted two goals — including the overtime-winner off the faceoff — to give the Calumet Copper Kings a 2-1 victory over the Rochester United Falcons Friday at the   Calumet Colosseum.

Off the faceoff in the right circle, as soon as the ref dropped the puck, Loukus slapped it forward towards the net before it slowly trickled past Rochester United senior goalie Adam Doran at 2 minutes, 56 seconds in overtime. The puck was moving so slow, Loukus sped by the net celebrating before it could reach the back of the nylon.

“I just tried to chip it forward there, and the goaltender missed the cover,” Loukus said. “I didn’t really expect it to go in. I thought it was just going to be another faceoff and he was going to cover it.”

Besides the goal’s unusual makeup, it was even more surprising given the night Doran was having; he stopped 31 of 33 shots, with the only other goal coming on a Calumet 5-on-3 power play in the second period. However, for the rest of the night, Doran was like a vacuum, eating up the pucks while not allowing Calumet to get any rebound opportunities in front of the net.

“I feel bad for (Doran). He played a hell of a game,” Rochester United head coach Jason Kowalski said. “It happens, it’s hockey, it’s weird. Sometimes you get a little flukey stuff here and there.”

Calumet’s own goaltender fared just as well.

On Thursday night, freshman Alex Studebaker found out he would be getting the start in net. But his starting debut could not have gotten off to a worst start. Just 25 seconds in, senior Andrew Carol fired a shot that was deflected off a couple people before it beat Studebaker for the goal.

“I thought, ‘Oh boy, here we go,'” Studebaker said after the first goal. “I told myself that (giving up a goal) was going to happen eventually in the year, so I just have to get over it and be ready for the next shot.”

Just 2 minutes, 50 seconds after giving up his first goal, Studebaker faced his first power play. If the pressure was going to get to the freshman and things were going to avalanche early on, this was it. But instead Calumet killed the first of four power plays, and Studebaker appeared like a calm, seasoned veteran, stopping 29 shots to earn the win.

“It was kind of a flukey goal, going off a skate right in front of him,” Giachino said of Rochester United’s goal against Studebaker. “He looked a little nervous and tentative in the first period. But in the second period, it seemed like he made a couple nice saves and that gave him some confidence. He settled into it, and he played well.”

The common theme for Rochester United was penalties, as the Falcons went to the penalty box eight times for a total of 16 minutes. But Calumet was only able to score once on a Rochester United team that gave up four power play goals last week.

“It’s one of those things where there were a couple of penalties that of course I didn’t necessarily agree with, but I thought the refs did a good job of keeping the game under control. That’s all I ask as a coach, to keep my kids safe and make sure there’s a nice little flow to the game,” Kowalski said. “At the end of the day, we have to be better. We have to make sure we’re moving our feet, and we can’t take the hookings and the holds and the interferences where it’s lack of discipline and lack of hustle.”

In the first period, Calumet put itself into position numerous times where it felt like the equalizer was coming. Calumet sophomore Sam Erkkila nearly scored on the first power play when his shot bounced off the left post. With 1:24 left in the first, Loukus found himself 1-on-1 with Doran on a breakaway, but Doran stuffed him.

The Copper Kings didn’t break through until 8:03 into the second, when senior Rory Anderson skated behind the net to the right side before firing a pass across to Loukus who finished the one-timer.

“That was just a great pass by Rory Anderson,” Loukus said. “He has great vision. He made a nice play, and I just had to tap it in.”

In between his two goals, it appeared Loukus scored another — or at least came close. Just 3:23 into the second, Loukus skated down the right wing with the puck before shooting in front of the net. The puck appeared near the goal line, and the play was whistled dead while the refs conferred.

“The refs said he lost sight of the puck,” Giachino said of the explanation given to him. “We couldn’t tell from our point of view if the puck went in or not — it was awfully close. They blew the whistle, so there was no chance to tap it in by anyone either, so the puck was just sitting there in an empty net, and we didn’t have an opportunity to get to it.”

Up next, Calumet (2-4) hosts Utica Eisenhower at 7 p.m. tonight.

Rochester United 1 0 0 0 – 1

Calumet                   0 1 0 1 – 2

First period

1. RU: Andrew Carol (Al DiMarco, Drew Dishinger), 0:25

Second period

2. CAL: Brent Loukus (Rory Anderson), 8:03

Overtime

3. CAL: Brent Loukus (unassisted), 2:56

Saves

RU: Doran           13 16  5 2 – 31

CAL: Studebaker   9  6  4 0     – 29

Penalties

RU: 8/16; CAL: 4/8

Power plays

RU: 0/4; CAL: 1/8

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