Calumet’s Jackson Rilei , left, scores on a shot against Houghton goalie Bryant Lee on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — If puck possession was equated with victory in the world of hockey, then the Houghton Gremlins would have earned a huge win after two periods Tuesday night at the Dee. However, it doesn’t.

What counts are goals, and the Calumet Copper Kings (14-9) had one more than their opponent as they notched a took a 2-1 win over the Houghton Gremlins.

“While Houghton had a lot of time in the zone in the second, they did not generate a lot of great scoring chances,” said Calumet head coach Dan Giachino. “That is something that we have been working on. Specifically, we’ve been emphasizing the importance of keeping the puck out of the middle, and we were better at it tonight.”

To start the game, neither team came out strong. There were a lot of missed passes, slapped pucks and a seemingly lack of energy on both sides. Houghton’s head coach Corey Markham let his team know it.

“I was super disappointed with our first period,” he said. “There was zero life in their play. It wasn’t the team that came out and dominated Hancock in the Wing Ding a few days ago.”

Calumet scored the game’s first goal at the 7:17 mark. Forward Jackson Rilei broke away from two Gremlin defenders at the top of the Houghton (17-7) zone and came in on net and lifted on past Houghton goalie Bryant Lee.

After a stern locker room talk, the Gremlins took over the second. They outshot the Gremlins 12-5 in that period and 28-13 on the night. However, despite all the shots, only one Houghton puck went in, and that was off the stick of Camden Markham at the 13:15 mark.

Gianchino credits strong goaltending by Aksel Loukus as keeping the Copper Kings in this game.

“We’ve had good goal tending all year,” he said, but tonight in was huge for us. Very rarely do you see a goaltender steal a game for us, but tonight he did.”

Headed into a 1-1 tie to open the third, Gianchino encouraged his players to work hard and stay gritty.

“I told them they needed to come out and match their (Houghton’s) intensity, and they did,” Giachino said.

A back-and-forth battle throughout the first part of the third ended with another goal by Rilei.

At the 9:30 mark, he was open on the right circle and launched a bullet up and in to the back of the net.

Loukus continued to play strong between the pipes, even though the Gremlins kept peppering him, and the Copper kings were able to hold on for a 2-1 victory.

“This was a good win for us,” said Giachino, especially as we head into playoffs next week.”