The Calumet Wolverines celebrate a goal against the Portage Lake Pioneers during game two of the Gibson Cup on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Dee Stadium in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/For The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — For the fourth year in a row, the Calumet Wolverines hoisted the Gibson Cup victoriously on the ice at the Dee on Saturday with a 3-1 win over the Portage Lake Pioneers.

Saturday night’s win capped a two-game sweep of the Pioneers in this best-of-three rivalry series. The Wolverines posted a 5-4 overtime win the night before in Calumet.

“I’m proud of the intensity these guys put in tonight to win this again,” said Calumet’s coach Bruce Coppo. “Some of these guys have never had their name on the Cup yet, and I think everybody worked hard.”

In the opening game on Friday, Calumet came out strong building a 4-1 lead in the first period before an enthusiastic home crowd. Portage Lake scored twice in the second period and was able to tie it at four late in the third moving the game into overtime.

“After that first period, things were looking bleak,” said Pioneer player-coach Cody Sivonen. “But I think we controlled the play for the most part in the second and third periods and eventually evened it up. For us to come back into that game was certainly a team effort.”

However, a bad defensive breakdown by the Pioneers put the Wolverine’s Matt Yeo in prime position to find the back of the net in the opening minute of OT, and he did for a 5-4 win.

That set the stage for the second game of this historic series before another big crowd at the Dee on Saturday. To say the least, this was a physical one. There was an intensity in the air and on the ice. Despite a total of 24-penalty minutes, 11 for Portage and 13 for Calumet, there were no power play goals in game two.

“Both benches had great goal tending,” Coppo said. “This was one of the most physical games we’ve seen in a long time.”

Both teams clocked five-minute majors for checking from behind. Portage’s Necco Bellanger sat out in the first after he put Calumet’s Cam Kauppinen into the boards. In the third, Nick Djerf, of the Wolverines, retaliated with a similar hit on a Pioneer. The check from behind got Djerf ejected from the game.

The two teams battled up and down the ice for a 0-0 score after 20 minutes. The Pioneers took their first lead of the series at the start of the second period when Brett Hauswirth pushed a puck in that deflected off a shot from teammate Dawson McKay.

That’s the way the score stood until the later part of the third. Within the six-minute mark, the Wolverines scored twice and sealed a Gibson Cup victory. The first goal was a scrappy one off the stick of Eric Bausano who was at the right place in the crease at the right time. Forty seconds later, Dylan Boberg put in the game winner.

“We knew we had it in us to generate some offense as we had been playing tough all game,” said Boberg. Brent and Scotty Loukus, two unbelievable hockey players, made an unreal play as Scotty slid it over to me, and I poked it in. It was awesome.”

Despite pulling their goalie and upping their effort in the last two minutes, the Pioneers could not get back in this one. To ice the win, Brent Loukus put in an empty netter for the Wolverines with less than 40 seconds to go in the game to make it 3-1.

“I had confidence in this team,” Coppo said. “This is one of the better teams we’ve had in a couple of years, and we got those quick goals (in the third), and we were able to defend them off. It was a good win.”

Game One

Portage Lake 1 2 1 0 — 4

Calumet 4 0 0 1 — 5

Game Two

Calumet 0 0 3 — 3

Portage Lake 0 1 0 — 1