HOUGHTON — Two hockey team heading in differing directions met at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena Wednesday night as the D3 No. 1 Calumet Copper Kings defeated the Jeffers Jets, 11-0.

For the Copper Kings, the story of the game was getting contributions from unexpected places. Senior forwards Carson Kariniemi and Caden Lehto, both members of what head coach Dan Giachino calls the “White” line, referring to the practice jersey color they wear, combined to score four goals and two assists.

Giachino was excited for the duo and hopes that their success Wednesday gives them a boost of confidence heading into a matchup with Houghton on Friday that could determine who wins the Great Lakes Hockey Conference and who has the top seed in the regional tournament.

“You get in this time of year and (it’s great) getting some goal-scoring confidence out of some of those guys,” Giachino said. “Our third line…has given us some really good shifts in a lot of games and have gotten us some good offensive zone time. It’s good to see them get a little payoff by putting a few pucks in the net. You hope that builds some confidence for over the next next few weeks.”

Lehto’s first tally came 7:10 into the game when he set himself up on the back door of the crease behind Jets goaltender Simon Rajala and one-timed a pass from Kariniemi into the net. 

His second goal came late in the first period when he beat Evan Pietila, who had replaced Rajala, with a wrist shot at 15:58.

Lehto’s hat trick marker came with 7:05 left in the second when he beat Pietila with a wrist shot.

Kariniemi scored a goal of his own 5:47 into the middle frame after he made two or three quick moves to create space in the high slot and then beat Pietila with a wrist shot that bounced in off the post.

“You obviously caught on on your top line to do a good portion of the heavy lifting, but we’ve got two very good very capable lines after that,” said Giachino. “If they get some confidence, then they can certainly cause some damage.”

Captain Dean Loukus picked up two goals and an assist in the contest. Junior Paul Sturos, junior Adyn Williams, assistant captain Jackson Rilei, senior Seth Coppo, and senior Noah Jukuri all added goals as well.

On the other end of the ice, Jets coach Patrick Nettell did not mince words about how he felt his team performed over the course of the game.

“There’s not even words for it,” he said. “It’s beyond frustrating…There’s no excuses for it. Bottom line is, when you hit the ice, you have to be ready to play hockey. You can’t come out and take a shift off. They’re gonna execute on it. That’s there’s no room for error.”

The Jets only managed seven shots on the goal over the course of the night. They have less than 48 hours to figure things out before they travel to face Escanaba.

“You gotta suck it up right now. We got to move past it,” Nettell said. “They’ve got to find their pride tonight. They’ve got to dig deep and reevaluate ourselves. What I’ve seen tonight, there is no dedication, no pride.”

With the win, the Copper Kings improved to 10-0-1 overall and 9-0-1 in GLHC play. If they beat Houghton on Friday, they will seal the conference title and the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament.

The Jets fell to 2-8 overall and in the GLHC with the loss.

CHS 6 5 — 11

JHS 0 0 0 — 0

First Period–Scoring–1, CHS, Dean Loukus (Nolan Sturos), 1:00. 2, CHS, Caden Lehto (Carson Kariniemi), 7:10. 3, CHS, Loukus (N. Sturos, Cliff Jurmu), 8:11. 4, CHS, Paul Sturos (Noah Jukuri), 8:37. 5, CHS, Adyn Williams (Jukuri, P. Sturos), 14:40. 6, CHS, Lehto, 15:58.

Second Period–Scoring–7, CHS, Kariniemi, 5:48. 8, CHS, Jackson Rilei, 8:22. 9, CHS, Lehto (Kariniemi), 9:55. 10, CHS, Seth Coppo (Loukus), PP, 14:51. 11, CHS, Jukuri (P. Sturos, Williams) 16:56.

Goalies–CHS, Helminen, 5-2-0–7 saves. JHS, Rajala, 4-0-0–4. JHS, Pietila, 6-11-0–17.

Power play Opportunities–CHS 1 of 1. JHS 0 of 2.

Penalties-minutes–CHS 2-4. JHS 1-2.