Calumet closes out season with 4-0 win against Jeffers
Copper Kings win share of GLHC title with Marquette
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HOUGHTON -- The Calumet Copper Kings closed out the regular season with a 4-0 win against Jeffers on Friday.
The win clinched a share of the Great Lakes Hockey Conference for the Copper Kings with Marquette. Both teams had a 9-1 conference record.
Both teams will face each other again this Wednesday in a MHSSA Division 3 Regional playoff game. While Calumet won, it was not a good win according to their coach Dan Giachino.
"We got out played and our worked two out of the three period," he said. "We came out pretty mediocre and not interested in playing in the first."
Calumet (16-9) got on the scoreboard first at the 12:45 mark. Paul Sturos came in on goal and lifted a backhanded wrister past Jets' net minder Simon Rajala.
In between periods, coach Giachino gave his boys an earful.
"I told them I needed better effort," he said. "I guess you could say I got that in the second period."
The Copper Kings scored two goals in the first two minutes of the second. First was an unassisted breakaway 45 seconds in from Jackson Rilei who hit the back of the net. Next was a loose puck that found the stick of Dan Loukus and he pushed it in.
A strong Jets'(7-11-2) defense kept them in this one according to Jeffers head coach Pat Nettell.
"Our guys blocked quite a few shots," Nettell said. "Got in lanes and weren't afraid to take one for the team. Brent Heinonen, Kyle Heltunen and Brok Holombo all had hot defensive sticks tonight."
The Copper Kings last goal came from Cliff Jurmu at the 11-minute mark. He took a pass from Cam Anderson at the right circle and lifted it in. It was 4-0 after two, and that's where it would stay.
"In the third we came alive," Nettell said. "That was our best period. We had some good scoring opportunities. There were a lot of loose pucks that could have gone in and made a difference. As well all three of our lines played strong."
On the other bench, Giachino felt his squad fell into old habits with a 4-0 lead.
"We seemed to coast off that lead," he said. "We didn't stay aggressive, and honestly I thought they outplayed us in the third period. We didn't play the way we are capable of playing tonight. We've got to play with more effort and intensity if we want to win in the playoffs."
CHS 1 3 0 -- 4
JHS 0 0 0 -- 0