×

Finishing strong: Hancock closes season with win, 5-3

HANCOCK — It took the Hancock Bulldogs hockey team nearly an entire period to break through during Senior Night at the Houghton County Arena, but when they did, they broke open the proverbial dam en route to a a 5-3 win over the visiting Kingsford Flivvers, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back situation.

While he has not been happy with some of his team’s play of late, Bulldogs coach Dan Rouleau was happy with the fact that he felt his team closed out the regular season with four good periods.

“Yeah, Senior Night is a special night for a lot of kids,” said Rouleau. “It’s the last night playing at the (Houghton County Arena) and the underclassmen want to have a good game for them going out.”

The Bulldogs (8-17-0 overall, 6-6 GLHC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third period before the Flivvers (8-12-0 overall, 2-9 GLHC) struck three times in the game’s final five minutes to put a little bit of a scare into the hosts.

Captain Eamonn Weed put in two of the goals at 12:13 and 14:50, and Carter Kreski capped the scoring on a power play with 39 seconds left in the contest.

The Flivvers looked tired the longer the game went on, but head coach Greg Wadge was okay with the way his team performed in the game’s final minutes.

“It was nice to get a couple of goals on the board,” said Wadge. “We played a little bit more physical in the second half of the third period… Not real pleased with the play the first two periods.”

With a depleted blue line due to an injury to Bradley Randell, Rouleau and his staff discussed moving senior winger Bryce Randell to the blue line to help relieve some of the pressure. Against Escanaba, he put up four points from back there.

The move continued to pay off Tuesday as he racked up three assists in the contest. Having Bryce able to step in and play well on defense has proven to be a boon for the Bulldogs forwards.

“He is such a great skater,” Rouleau said. “He sees the ice well. He’s got to work on his gaps a little bit. He does create a lot of offense from back there and it showed again tonight.”

With regionals looming, and his younger brother nearing a return, it is expected that Bryce Randell will be moving back up front for Tuesday’s contest against Calumet.

Up front, the Bulldogs often shuffled the puck through sophomore winger Austin Salani. The younger of the two Salani brothers was a force offensively, setting up the first two Hancock goals before scoring one of his own with just 27 seconds left in the middle frame.

“That line has been together for a few games now,” said Rouleau. “They are starting to click. If we can get scoring from two lines and Bryce can contribute, it would be nice because we have been lacking offense a lot this year.”

The Bulldogs got their first goal off the stick of junior Colton Salani. Austin Salani took a pass from Randell and cut slowly across the slot as he tried to wait out Hedtke. When he ran out of room, Austin slid the puck to his brother on the back door fo the goal at 14:26 of the opening frame.

In the second period, Austin Salani won a faceoff to Hedtke’s left and junior winger Petr Anderson buried a quick shot off the draw at 3:12. Just 4:13 later, the Bulldogs struck again when freshman winger Todd Anderson buried a rebound on the man advantage.

The younger Salani buried his goal on a second rebound chance. After senior center Trevor Tchida fired a first shot, Salani jumped on the rebound. His first chance was stopped, but he buried the second chance for the goal.

Despite giving up five goals, Wadge was extremely pleased that Hedtke fought his way through the contest.

“I thought he played solid,” said Wadge. “You look at the goals they got, (there was) not a lot he could do.”

Sophomore winger Kyle Maki extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-0 with a shot from the slot 5:49 into the third.

COPPER KINGS LOOM

Hancock’s next game will be the second semifinal of Region 17 Tournament at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Bulldogs have drawn the Calumet Copper Kings. Calumet has won all three meetings between the two teams by a combined score of 22-1.

Scoring

Kingsford 0 0 3 – 3

Hancock 1 3 1 – 5

First period

1, HCH, Colton Salani (Austin Salani, Bryce Randell), 14:26

Second period

2, HCH, Petr Anderson (Austin Salani), 3:12

3, HCH, Todd Anderson (Bryce Randell, Petr Anderson), PP, 7:25

4, HCH, Austin Salani (Trevor Tchida, Randell), 16:33

Third period

5, HCH, Kyle Maki (Tchida), 5:49

6, KHS, Eamonn Weed (Ethan Fox, David Brule), 12:13

7, KHS, Weed (Brule, Eli Langston), 14:50

8, KHS, Carter Kreski (Colin Watkins, Reese Fortner), 16:21

Saves

KHS, Hedtke 9 15 13 – 37

HCH, Rios 2 4 6 – 12

Power plays

KHS: 1/2; HCH: 1/2

Penalties

KHS: 2/4; HCH: 2/4

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today