Escanaba goalie Dylan Ziemke, left, stops Houghton’s Camden Markham, right, on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins scored three goals in the second and four more in the third period to earn a 7-1 victory over the Escanaba Eskymos on the ice Saturday afternoon at the Dee.

If the last two periods belonged to Houghton (7-1-1), the first was won by Escanaba (1-8). The Eskymos came out strong and moved the puck well. While they were out shot 15-7 in the opening 17 minutes, their defense kept them in the game. Eskymos goaltender Dylan Ziemke was at the top of his game stopping everything shot at him and shutting out the Gremlins in the first period.

The Eskymos got on the scoreboard first when with less than two minutes to go in the first, Nick Kolich picked up a loose puck and skated in and found the back of the net.

“We came out with a lot of energy and that was good to see,” stated Escanaba head coach Matt Hughes. “However as we got into the second, we got complacent and lazy.”

The tide turned in the second as the Gremlins got to work.

“I told them that we needed to do a better job of competing for the puck,” said Houghton head coach Corey Markham. “We needed to win more of the one on ones in order to put some offense together.”

It took them more than half a period to put their first tally on the scoreboard. Camden Markham took the honors at the 8:37 mark when he chipped in a loose puck in a scrum in front of the net. Less than three minutes later Landon Stevens got his stick on a shot by Matthew Rowe for a deflection past Ziemke. Then at the 15:41 mark, Tedd Halonen slapped a bullet into the Esky’s net to make it a 3-1 game after two.

The Gremlins Nathan Erva was the man of the hour in the third as he was responsible for three of that periods four goals earning him a hat trick on the afternoon. His first tally was just 30 seconds into the period as he was able to push a loose puck in the crease past the goal line. He would do it again less than two minutes later and a well-placed shot by Erva in the slot near the end of the period capped off his successful day.

“Nathan did great as did Ted and that line as they were able to generate some offense and a win for us today,” said Markham.

EHS 1 0 0 — 1

HHS 0 3 4 — 7