Hancock forward Brady Axford shoots the puck during the first period of a game against Bay Port Saturday at the Houghton County Arena. Axford scored on the play. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — The Hancock Bulldogs hockey team earned a split this weekend with a pair of Wisconsin-based opponents at the Houghton County Arena. They beat the DePere Voyageurs on Friday night, 6-1, and twice had leads on Saturday afternoon, but ultimately fell to the Bay Port Pirates, 5-2.

With the split, the Bulldogs improved to 12-5-1 on the season.

BULLDOGS DROP GAME TO PIRATES

Despite scoring twice in the first period, the Bulldogs surrendered three goals in the second period and one more in the third to fall to the Pirates on Saturday.

Hancock threw 29 shots at Pirates goaltender Devin Rustlie, but only the two in the period found their way behind him, while winger Adrian Vlna scored three goals to help drive the Pirates’ offense in the contest. Bulldogs coach Pete Rouleau felt his team had a tough battle with the Pirates all afternoon.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “They have depth. They have good goaltending. You can’t make mistakes against them.”

Getting three goals from Vlna is just the offensive boost the Pirates, the top-ranked team in Wisconsin, needed after being held to just one goal as a team against Houghton on Friday night.

“It was a tough loss last night,” said Pirates assistant coach Derek Donahue. “It was a great game, but on a quick turnaround, you have to recover. You have to find a way.

“This time of the year, you have to be playing your best hockey. So, any time you get a loss, you want to come back and get the ‘W’ to get back on track there.”

The Bulldogs struck just 2:11 into the contest when freshman winger Brady Axford took a pass from sophomore center Ted Heinonen and buried a wrist shot from the slot.

Vlna evened the game for the Pirates just one minute later when he redirected a bouncing puck past Bulldogs goaltender Dan Wroblewski. The primary assist on the goal went to Will Lyons, who picked up four assists on the day after being held to just one point against the Gremlins.

“The biggest, most important thing is you don’t always want to make it about one player,” said Donahue. “Obviously, Will’s got a great skill set, sees the ice well, and he’s a great player for us, but ultimately, to get down the stretch, you have to have everybody (going).

“We were fortunate to have him (Vlna) as part of our group this year with him coming from Czechia. (He’s) a great kid, great work ethic, and his linemates helped him out. It’s not just one person, but he found the right spots in front of the net.”

Hancock regained the one-goal lead at 14:57 of the first when freshman center Tevin Stukel won a draw to the right of Rustlie. Stukel got the puck over to junior winger Jackson Sintkowski, who quickly moved it back to co-captain Luke Mikkola at the left point. Mikkola fired a wrist shot on net while Stukel was skating through the slot, and he redirected the puck past Rustlie for the goal.

Rouleau liked what he saw from his team in the first period.

“I thought we were good,” he said. “We were ready to go. We got the first goal. They did tie it up right away after, but then we came and scored another one.

“I liked the way we’re playing. We got pucks in. We took the goalie’s eyes away, and that’s how we got two goals.”

Mistakes in the second period opened up opportunities for the Pirates, and they took advantage.

Nick Voss evened the game for the second time 3:08 into the middle frame off a feed from Vlna. Lyons picked up his second assist of the game on the play as well.

Vlna then gave the Pirates the lead for good at the five-minute mark when two Bulldogs collided in the offensive zone during a delayed penalty, and then a missed coverage on the backcheck allowed Vlna to get open and beat Wroblewski with a shot.

The game remained 3-2 in favor of Bay Port until Ryan Hilbert buried a rebound at 16:38.

Rouleau did not feel as though the Bulldogs changed what they were doing in the second period, but he did feel that a couple of defensive breakdowns allowed Bay Port to take advantage.

“I don’t know if anything really changed,” he said. “I think we just made two bad mistakes, one on a backcheck, and I’m drawing a blank on the other goal, but I know one was a bad backtrack. We backtracked the wrong guy and it came to their late guy and he buried it.

“I think we’re fine. If we learn from those mistakes, we’ll be alright.”

Vlna scored his hat trick goal at 4:45 of the third period when he found some space in front of the net, took a pass from Lyons and quickly fired a shot that beat Wroblewski.

Hancock had two power plays in each period, but could not convert on any of them.

Wroblewski made 31 saves in the loss for the Bulldogs.

BULLDOGS CRUISE TO WIN OVER VOYAGEURS

Thanks to a hat trick from co-captain Bryce Hanner, the Bulldogs earned a 6-1 win over the Voyageurs Friday night.

Hancock struck on a major power play just 1:28 into the contest when winger Sam Roberts scored. Alternate captain Bennett Sturos and defenseman Zach Geborkoff both assisted on the goal.

The game remained 1-0 into the second period, when center Tevin Stukel struck on the power play unassisted at 3:24 to put Hancock up 2-0.

Forward Damian Colombe gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead at 9:37 of the middle frame. Defensemen Todd Kilpela picked up the lone assist.

With the three-goal lead, Hanner went to work.

Hanner scored his first goal at 10:33. Mikkola and Stukel both earned assists on the goal. Hanner’s second came 2:33 into the third. Winger Jackson Sintkowski and Mikkola both assisted on the goal. Hanner’s third then went in at 4:40. Sintkowski and Stukel both assisted on the goal.

Just seconds before Hanner’s hat trick tally, Teddy Matheson scored for the Voyageurs at 4:15.

Goaltender Saku Cunard stopped 21 Voyageurs shots to earn the win.

UP NEXT

Hancock is back in action Tuesday when they host the Calumet Copper Kings for a game at 7 p.m. at the Houghton County Arena.