Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette Calumet's Ed Beiring fights off Marquette's Andrew Pieper during the first period of a game Thursday at the Calumet Colosseum.

CALUMET — There was one simple difference Thursday night between Calumet Copper Kings and the Marquette Redmen that anyone in the Calumet Colosseum could see: the Copper Kings used their speed to take advantage of the Redmen en route to a 3-0 victory to close out the regular season.

With the win, the Copper Kings earned a tie for the Great Lakes Hockey Conference title along with the Hancock Bulldogs thanks to a record of 11-1 in GLHC play. While earning the tie for the conference was nice, Calumet coach Dan Giachino and his players were more focused on finishing the season as strongly as they could while also preparing for next Monday’s matchup with the Bulldogs in the opener of the Region 17 Tournament.

“Hopefully as we progress here into Monday, that confidence level stays up and we get the full effort that we have been getting all year,” said Giachino.

It took the Copper Kings just 1:37 to put the Redmen back on their heels when senior Trevor Salata blasted a shot from the blue line past Marquette goaltender Tyler Bergwall that he never saw. For Salata, it was his second straight game with a goal and his second straight game-winner as well.

“That’s the second goal in two games for Trevor,” said Giachino. “Two game-winning goals, too. The first two goals of his career and they are two game-winning goals in back-to-back games. We are definitely happy for Trevor.”

After Calumet sophomore Brent Loukus won the draw that set up Salata’s tally, to Redmen head coach Doug Garrow, it was clear very quickly that his squad was not ready to handle the speed at which the Copper Kings attacked.

“They came at us hard in the first period,” said Garrow. “I didn’t think we were ready for the speed. As the game went on, I thought we played a little better tempo-wise. They are a good team.”

Garrow’s squad had lost to Hancock last week 2-1 and beaten Houghton by that same score. But Thursday night, they struggled to match everything that Calumet threw at them, causing them to retreat back into a 1-2-2 trap style defensively, rather than play with the same aggression they had against Hancock and Houghton.

“I thought we competed hard,” said Garrow. “Against these three teams, I thought we handled ourselves well.”

Calumet was more than happy to continue to put the pressure on Marquette, forcing the Redmen to take two penalties in the opening frame and allowing the Copper Kings to come away with a 12-3 advantage in shots after 17 minutes.

Bergwall was a big reason why the Copper Kings remained within striking distance until just after their third power play of the night early in the middle period.

As Redmen sophomore Tanner Phillips was returning to the ice from the penalty box, Calumet assistant captain Ed Beiring moved the puck back to senior Jack Sturos in the left circle. Sturos pushed the puck back to the blue line to assistant captain Trevor Johnson, who slid over to the middle of the rink and unleashed a slap shot that Bergwall never saw — with Loukus causing traffic in front — and the puck slipped past him at 4:42.

After that second Copper Kings goal, the Redmen finally settled down and began to try to turn the tables on Calumet by pressuring freshman Alex Studebaker, who had seen just four shots before the goal.

Three minutes after the Johnson goal, Studebaker came up with stops on back-to-back rushes by the Redmen. The first came off the stick of assistant captain Joseph Phillips on a wrist shot from the left circle, the second 21 seconds later off of a pass into the middle of the slot by sophomore Elliot Samppala to sophomore Sean O’Connor.

A minute later, Tanner Phillips had a chance during a 2-on-1 with Elliot Samppala but again, Studebaker was there to make the stop.

Early in the third, the Copper Kings cashed in a third time. During their fifth power play of the night, Beiring found a soft spot in the slot and he quickly fired a shot off a pass from captain Rory Anderson for a tally at 6:20.

Studebaker finished his night with 17 saves to earn the shutout.

The Copper Kings return to action Monday when they face the Bulldogs at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Marquette  0  0  0 – 0

Calumet  1  1  1 – 3

First period

1, CHS, Trevor Salata (Brent Loukus), 1:57

Second period

2, CHS, Trevor Johnson (Jack Sturos, Ed Beiring), 4:42

Third period

3, CHS, Beiring (Rory Anderson), PP, 6:20

Saves

MHS, Bergwall  11  9  12 – 32

CHS, Studebaker  3  8  6 – 17

Penalties

CHS: 4/8; MHS: 6/12

Power plays

CHS:1/6; MHS: 0/4