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Battle tested: Bulldogs survive late scare, earn win over Marquette

Dave Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Hancock’s Bryce Randell (13) and Hunter Saarinen (10) celebrate after Austin Salani’s (middle) game-winning goal Tuesday night over Marquette at the Houghton County Arena.

HANCOCK — Hancock Bulldogs hockey coach Dan Rouleau was in a jovial mood after his team found a way to survive the visiting Marquette Redmen’s game-tying tally with 0.8 seconds left in regulation by having sophomore Austin Salani do what he does best: score.

The Bulldogs won the contest Tuesday, 5-4, in overtime.

“That’s how we scripted it: to get the win at the end of the day” said Rouleau with a smile on his face. “We didn’t say how.”

On the other side of the ice, Redmen coach Doug Garrow, whose squad has already seen Houghton and Calumet this season, was pleased his team found a way to force overtime, but was less than enthused with parts of the rest of their performance.

“Our guys need to answer the bell a little bit,” he said. “I think some of the guys were a little afraid out there.

“When you come up to the Copper Country to win, you have to play. You can’t be intimidated.”

The Redmen forced the extra session when Andrew Fedrizzi pushed a loose puck past a sprawled out Phillip Rios, who had already made a stop or two on the play prior to the goal. The sequence started when Hancock senior Trevor Tchida lost the faceoff to Rios’ right with 5.4 seconds left.

Rather than get down on themselves, the Bulldogs found a way to persevere for their second win of the season. The younger Salani brother waited out Marquette goaltender Brennen Hakkola. Once Hakkola went down, Salani roofed a shot over his shoulder to give the Bulldogs the victory at 4:32 of the extra period.

Austin and Colton Salani combined for four of the Bulldogs’ goals on the night.

“They are good players,” said Garrow. “They are great players. They intimidate the s— out of you. They work hard. They are physical.”

Prior to Marquette tying the game in the final second of regulation, both teams had, and lost, two one-goal leads.

Hancock struck first when Austin Salani, a sophomore took a pass along the left boards from freshman winger Todd Anderson, cut in alone on Tyler Bergwall and beat him with a quick deke to his forehand at 10:38.

“They are two of our best hockey players,” said Rouleau when asked about the Salani brothers. “They do a lot for this team offensively. They do a lot for this team defensively. These are the guys we are expecting to score. That is what this team needs.”

Bergwall had stepped into the contest to replace Hakkola, who left the game injured just under three minutes into the contest.

Ben Hyde evened things after a sequence of miscues by the Bulldogs’ defense at 13:40.

The teams played evenly in the middle frame until Brian Baldwin took advantage of a sprawled out Rios and poked a loose puck home at 11:16.

Austin Salani then evened things at 2-2 on the power play with a shot from the left point at 16:45.

Tanner Phillips regained the lead for the Redmen just 3:49 into the third when he converted a pass from Gaetanno Cammarata. Colton Salani answered for Hancock less 6:20 later when he wired a wrist shot over Hakkola’s glove.

Tchida gave Hancock its second lead of the night at 15:07 when he used a defender as a screen and snuck a puck past Hakkola, setting up the final two minutes that included a goalie pull, a fight that led to two ejections, and the fateful faceoff.

Hancock returns to action next Tuesday when they travel to face Escanaba.

EXTRA LOVE AGAINST MARQUETTE

Last season, Colton Salani scored the game-winning goal 6:27 into overtime against Marquette at Lakeview Arena on Dec. 14. The goal was assisted by Austin Salani and Tyler Turcotte.

HAT TRICK GAME-WINNER

Austin Salani’s hat trick goal was the game-winner Tuesday. The last Bulldogs skater to accomplish that feat was Trevor Givens, who played two seasons with the Bulldogs from 2009-11 and scored 46 goals and 82 points over that span.

Scoring

Marquette 1 1 2 0 – 4

Hancock 1 1 2 1 – 5

First period

1, HCH, Austin Salani (Todd Anderson), 10:38

2, MHS, Ben Hyde, 13:40

Second period

3, MHS, Brian Baldwin, 11:16

4, HCH, A. Salani (Trevor Tchida), PP, 16:45

Third period

5, MHS, Tanner Phillips (Gaetanno Gammarata), 3:49

6, HCH, Colton Salani (Bryce Randell, Chad Nordstrom), 10:09

7, HCH, Tchida (Randell), 15:07

8, MAR, Andrew Fedrizzi, PP, 16:59

Overtime

9, HCH, Austin Salani (Randell), 4:32

Saves

MHS – Hakkola 1 9 5 1 – 16

Bergwall 7 0 0 0 – 7

HCH – Rios 5 10 5 1 – 21

Power plays

MHS: 1/3; HCH: 1/2

Penalties

MHS: 5/23; HCH: 6/25

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