Houghton’s Dawson McKay attempts to score as Marquette’s Dylan Sibilsky makes a save during the first period Tuesday, at Dee Stadium in Houghton. (Bryce Derouin/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — A 5-foot-8, 150-pound senior, clad in red and black stands in goal for Marquette. Dylan Sibilsky is undersized for a goalie, but he doesn’t need a few more inches, or a few more pounds to make an impact. 

He made that clear with 1:17 left to play in the first period of Marquette’s 3-2 victory over Houghton at Dee Stadium on Tuesday. Dawson McKay skated around the back of the net and attempted to flick the puck past Sibilsky, but he slid forward and fell on the puck, with his skates flying backward into the net. 

The stop was one of Sibilsky’s 44 saves on the game, and the all-out effort is what his coach has come to expect of the senior. Marquette needed that effort in a game where Houghton, despite an early 3-0 scoring deficit, appeared to have the upper hand down the stretch. 

“I thought the difference for us was Dylan,” coach Doug Garrow said. “Without him, we would have a hard time winning. I thought Houghton outplayed us in every facet of the game. I thought they were the better team, but Dylan made all the difference for us tonight.”

Sibilsky’s strength lies in in his fearless nature and ability to challenge every shot. Since he is on the small side, he is forced to come out of the net to cut down angles and make shooters adjust. For a goal scorer, that can be intimidating. 

“He played tremendous,” Houghton coach Corey Markham said. “He is really aggressive. You have to have a little patience as a goal scorer. You have to have patience and fake a shot, then move one way or another to get to the open area. And you have to have guys on the back side with their sticks ready for action.”

The Gremlins were ready, but they just couldn’t capitalize. They outshot the Redmen 46-23 but only got past Sibilsky on the power play, scoring two goals on penalties in the second period. 

Sibilsky was assisted by three early Marquette goals. The first came at 12:27 when Sterling Wright took a difficult shot from the left side of the net. The bad angle made things difficult on the Gremlins, and Marquette took a 1-0 lead. Then, Joe Phillips made it 2-0 when he took a shot from the face-off circle that rocketed into the opposite side of the net. 

Marquette’s final goal, of both the period and the game, came from Aydin Frost after several players including the Houghton goalie went down in front of the net. He was able to get the puck out and put Marquette up 3-0 at the 3:24 mark.

“Those early goals were huge,” Garrow said. “It is always nice to get those early goals on the road and to give your guys some confidence going into the rest of the game. They were really on us for the first eight or nine minutes; they really took it to us, but then we got one down there. We got a couple bounces and put a few home.”

In the second period the Gremlins began their comeback, and at 12:38 they went on their first power play of the game. Sibilsky made back-to-back saves, but eventually, Houghton wore him down and Dawson MacKay, who had some good looks in the first period, found the back of the net. 

Then, minutes later Houghton had another power play. With 49 seconds to go on the penalty clock, the puck got loose in front of the net. Patrick Donnelly came up with it and scored from close range, cutting the Marquette lead to 3-2.

“I think when they got the puck down deep in our end I don’t think we pressured enough and maybe gave them a little too much time and space with the puck,” Garrow said of the second-period momentum shift. 

With the way his team scored early, Garrow said he expected to get a few more goals, but Markham went to freshman goalie Jimmy Pietila, who subbed in the second period and didn’t allow another one. Houghton had a good scoring chance on its lone power play of the game at 16:31 in the third period. A goal would have put the game completely out of reach. 

“When he was called upon he made big saves,” Markham said of Pietila. “They had that big power play in the third period and I thought he looked sharp there. He did a nice job stepping into a pretty nerve-wracking situation for his first varsity action.”

The Gremlins had 16 shots in the third period that could have tied the game, but none came as close as their final look with six seconds to play. Houghton had emptied its goal with one minute to play, and as the final seconds wound down the team had one last chance. The puck was tipped around in front of the net and eventually fired high, going out of play and securing a victory for Marquette. 

Marquette took the win in both teams’ first GLHC game of the season, but Markham says his team’s play bodes well for the future.

“I’m very happy with our effort,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more out of our guys. We did everything that you could ask, but the score didn’t go in our favor. If we play like that and have that kind of effort, we will win a lot more games than we lose.”

– – –

Marquette 3 0 0  – 3 

Houghton 0 2 0 – 2  

First period  

Marquette – Sterling Wright (Jospeh Luke, Colin Gaffney) 12:27, 1-0.  

Marquette-Joe Phillips (Ethan Jones, Aydin Frost), 9:53, 2-0.

Marquette- Frost (Hunter Doucette, Kobie Guidebeck), 3:24, 3-0.

Second period  

Houghton – Dawson McKay (Kevin Bostwick, Patrick Donnelly), 13:22, 3-1.

Houghton- Donnelly (McKay, Bostwick), 11:57, 3-2. 

Third period  

None.

Saves  

Marquette: Dylan Sibilsky 44.

Houghton: Will Stier 8, Jimmy Pietila 12. 

Penalties  

Marquette: 3/6; Houghton: 1/2.   

Power plays  

Marquette: 0/1; Houghton 2/3.