The Houghton High School hockey team poses after beating Hancock 4-3 in a Wing Ding matchup on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, in Hancock, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — With a late goal that broke a 3-3 tie, the Houghton Gremlins downed the Hancock Bulldogs on the ice and took the Wing Ding trophy home for the fourth year in a row.

Down 3-2 at the start of the third, the Bulldogs’ Cole Stuber lifted a wrist shot up and in to the Gremlin net, and the game was tied.

The two teams stayed even until Hancock’s Austin Salani was sent to the penalty box for slashing at the 14.55 mark. It was his third penalty on the night. The Gremlins sent in their best power-play line which included junior Matthew Rowe. Just 20 seconds into the penalty, Rowe took a pass from Kade Farrell and found the back of the goal. Gremlin fans went wild.

“That was Matthew’s first high-school goal, and that was a game winner,” said Houghton head coach Corey Markham. “That’s a big milestone. I was just so pleased with the team as they battled to win this game.”

After the opening face off, Hancock dominated the first five minutes as they controlled the puck in the Gremlins’, zone. They opened the scoring at the 9:92 mark. With the Gremlins Nathan Erva in the box for his first of three penalties, the Bulldogs went on the advantage. At the point, Chad Nordstrom received a pass from David Olson and fired it in.

Less than a minute later, the Gremlins’ Sully Rajala put his team on the board with a scrappy shot in the crease just out of reach of Bulldog goalie Brandon Pietila.

The Bulldogs held a 2-1 lead at the intermission thanks to another power-play goal. At the 14:54 mark, Todd Anderson found Salani in front of the net and he was able to put it past Houghton goalie Jimmy Pietila.

“It was a real good game, and I thought our effort was excellent,” said Hancock’s new head coach Scott Mikesch. “I think we made more mistakes than they did, and that was the difference in the game.”

He added that if his Bulldogs dominated the first, the Gremlins owned the second period. Less than two minutes in to that period Houghton was able to tie the game at two. Brandon Norko found Landon Stevens in the slot and Stevens slapped one in the goal.

“I told the kids after the first, that they needed to dig down deep and compete harder, and we took that into the second,” Markham said. 
The Gremlins were able to shut out the Bulldogs in the second and in the meantime, earn another milestone. At the 6:21 mark, junior Brendan Miller got his first high-school goal. It was a unassisted shot from the point while the Gremlins had the one-man advantage.

After the Bulldogs tied it at three to start the third, Markham said it was goaltender Jimmy Pietila that kept the Gremlins in the game. Hancock out shot Houghton 43-25.

“He made some key saves there as the game wound down,” said Markham.

While he thought his Bulldogs played strong, Mikesch said they need to take care of the puck better moving forward.

“We need to play with a little more poise with the puck,” he said. “We seemed to be a little nervous. However, I thought the game was a great team effort. We were just one shot short.”

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