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Calumet wears down Kingsford for 4-1 victory

Calumet’s Dean Loukus (12) takes a shot against Kingsford on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, in Iron Mountain, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Calumet’s speed and transition game was enough to hand Kingsford its first loss, 4-1, on Thursday.

The Flivvers (5-1) rang a shot off the crossbar in the first minute of the game, but the Copper Kings took the puck in transition and scored seconds later. Calumet (2-4) limited Kingsford’s capable offense by controlling the puck and moving up the ice with urgency.

The Copper Kings’ first goal came off such a transition with a Kingsford turnover in the neutral zone. Calumet turned up-ice on an odd-man rush that ended with the first goal of the game by Sam Erkkila assisted by Dean Loukus. Erkkila is Kingsford assistant coach Mike Erkkila’s first cousin once removed.

Calumet coach Dan Giachino said the defense was key for most of the game as Calumet led by slim margins of 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second.

“Just a continued good defensive effort. We got a lot of young guys on defense right now, so we’re very inexperienced on the backside,” Giachino said. “It seems like each game we’re getting a little bit stronger. We’re slowly figuring it out. The kids got talent, they just got to figure out the game at this level.”

Kingsford tied the game in the second period when Nick Murvich intercepted the puck and fed it to Daunte Fortner, who beat Calumet goaltender Nick Voelker.

Apart from the lone goal, the Flivvers narrowly missed scoring on multiple scoring opportunities throughout the night — a pass through the slot, a shot off the post or just wide.

“We tried to enter the zone-wide with speed and get pucks to the net if we’re in transition. If we’re not, we try to enter the zone and cycle pucks down below their goal line and look for backdoor stuff,” Kingsford head coach Dennis Murvich said. “I thought we did a good job with that at times. They have a young defense and we thought we could take advantage of them. They had several icings and I thought we had good pressure on them. We hit two or three posts, we had several pucks slide through the slot. They’re a good team but I think we’re right there.”

Penalties became Kingsford’s undoing, as it forced Kingsford to expend more energy in the defensive zone.

“Before the game we said the most important thing was we had to stay out of the box,” Murvich said. “We couldn’t keep our line rotations together and we gassed our guys. We took some goofy penalties and you just can’t do that against good teams. They’re a good team.”

The Copper Kings grabbed momentum for good with a power-play goal with about five minutes left in the second period.

“That power-play goal we got in the second period was a good momentum turn for us,” Giachino said. “They were playing well in the second. They got that early goal and they were having some good shifts. It was nice to get that power-play goal and regain that lead to go into the third period.”

Kingsford became fatigued in the second half of the game as penalties had Kingsford on the penalty kill five times. The Copper Kings were 1 of 5 on the power-play.

Calumet’s defense and quick transition game did a lot to limit Kingsford’s prolific offense, which averaged 8.6 goals per game going into Thursday night. Voelker made 24 saves.

Kingsford goaltender Evan Hedtke made 34 saves.

Giachino said Kingsford is tougher than in the past.

“That was probably the best Kingsford team I’ve seen in the last six years as far as top to bottom,” he said. “They got a couple of good high-end kids there with (Fortner) and (Murvich). The one thing it seems like they have this year is a lot more depth than they’ve had in the past. They’re not just a one-line team this year. That’s a big thing for them and their program to develop that depth and be able to compete in the second and third lines. It seems like they’re able to do that this year.”

The Flivvers scored 43 goals in the five games before facing Calumet. In those games, Kingsford had no fewer than nine players score a point in a game. The most was 12 against Negaunee in a 10-2 win on Monday. Murvich said the game against perennial powerhouse Calumet was a good test for his team.

“It’s a good start. We needed a game like this. It gives us a good barometer,” Murvich said. “Calumet’s going to be in it every single year. They’re one of the best in the state, they got a good tradition up there. Like I said, it was 1-0 after one, 2-1 after two. I felt like that could have easily, easily been a tied game at the end of two, or even a lead for us. We were looking at quality chances in the first period.

“We can score. Tonight, we were close. It felt like tonight we had a couple things that didn’t quite go our way, but I felt like we could’ve had three, four goals.”

Calumet hosts Utica Eisenhower tonight at the Calumet Colosseum.

– – –

Calumet 1 1 2 – 4

Kingsford 0 1 0 – 1

Scoring summary:

First Period

CHS – Sam Erkkila (Dean Loukus), 1:07

Second Period

KHS – Daunte Fortner (Nick Murvich), 2:11

CHS – Davin Lehto (Brent Loukus, Tanner Rowe), 12:05

Third Period

CHS – Alex Mattila (unassisted), 1:02

CHS – Scott Loukus (Mattila), 9:16

Penalty summary:

First Period

KHS – Drew Herbert (hooking), 5:51

KHS – Murvich (roughing), 13:31

Second Period

KHS – TJ Burke (interference), 3:44

CHS – Gabe Coppo (crosschecking), 7:18

KHS – CJ Dantes (interference), 9:36

Third Period

CHS – Rowe (tripping), 5:14

KHS – Murvich (boarding minor), 13:36

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