Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette The Wolverines’ Stephen Dudenas (left) and the Pioneer’s Dawson McKay battle for a puck on the boards of Dee Stadium Thursday in the first game of the Gibson Cup in Houghton.

HOUGHTON – With the score knotted at one and less than five seconds to go in the third period, it looked like Game 1 of the Gibson Cup was headed into overtime – not so. Just two seconds later the Portage Lake Pioneers’ defenseman Mark Halonen hit teammate Cale Markham with a perfect pass in front of crease and he one touched into the net past Calumet Wolverine goaltender Axsel Loukus for a winner.

Defeating the Wolverines (7-11) has been nothing new for the Pioneers (15-2-1).

These cross-canal rivals met five times this past season, and the Pioneers outscored their opponent 32-11 in their sweep.

The Pioneers won the Great Lakes Hockey League while the Wolverines finished fifth. However that was last-month’s news as the storied Gibson Cup series (best-of-three) brings on a whole other “season” where anything can happen.

That fresh-start attitude was key in the Wolverines’ strategy at the Dee on Thursday. According to veteran Wolverine forward, Michael Babcock, his team’s performance was top notch.

“We were battling the whole game,” he said. “We played good enough to win today, however, they (Portage Lake) are a very good hockey team with a lot of depth and a lot of skilled players.”

In fact, the Wolverines never-say-die game face put them up 1-0 after two periods of play. The two teams skated to a scoreless draw for the first 20 minutes, and that is how the game stayed well into the second. However with less than four minutes to go Gabe Coppo of the Wolverines ended the stalemate with a definitive statement of his own.

He lifted a loose puck past the Pioneers’ netminder Jimmy Pietila to take a rare 1-0 lead. That is where it stood after two.

“We knew we had to get pucks behind their defense,” said Markham, “and keep the pressure on them as we headed into the third.”

It took more than half of the third, but Markham and his teammates finally saw the fruits of their labor. At the 7:32 mark of the third, the Pioneers Nick Harris fed Markham with a pretty pass and he poked it in to tie this one at one apiece.

“It was a great pass and luckily I did not hang on to it too long,” Markham noted. “That (goal) was a relief. I think we all had the mindset that we did not want to go into overtime, we were fortunate to finish it with just seconds to go.”

The Pioneers out shot the Wolverines 45-31.

“We need to regroup and play like we did tonight,” said Babcock in regards to Game Two at the Calumet Colosseum on Friday. “I think being at home will help.”

Meanwhile, the Pioneers are hoping to complete the sweep of the Wolverines and keep the Gibson Cup at home. Last year was the Portage Lake squad’s first win in the storied battle since 2017.

If the Wolverines can stay alive with a Friday night win, the decisive game three will take place tonight at Dee Stadium at 7:30 p.m.