Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Calumet’s Nathan Keranen battles for a puck behind the net with a Howell Highlander on Friday at the Calumet Colosseum.

By Eddie O’Neill

eoneill@mininggazette.com

CALUMET- Friday night had all the trappings of an opener for the Calumet Copper Kings on the ice. While it wasn’t all bad, their opponent, the Howell Highlanders, proved to be the more agile team. They downed Calumet 7-2 – out playing them from the opening faceoff.

“It was a good win,” stated Highlanders’ coach Keith Roberrtson.

“I liked out compete level. We came out strong and kept going.”

Strong meant four Highlander goals in the first nine minutes of the first period. The Copper Kings did not know what hit them as they faced an 0-4 deficit after the opening period.

The Highlanders made it 5-0 to open the second, before the Copper Kings were able to put some offense together and avoid the shut out.

At the 15:18 mark of the second, Calumet’s Nathan Lando found a loose puck in front of the net and poked it back in. Luke Hamlin earned an assist on that one.

The Highlanders’ sixth goal came just minutes later. Chad Pietila fired a shot past Calumet keeper Jacob Garrow that was all net. Just minutes later, they tacked on a seventh goal on a 3-on-1 attack with Marco Wolf getting the score.

The Copper Kings closed out the second on a power-play goal. Brendan Boberg put a wrister in to make it 7-2 with around two minutes left in the period.

“We had too many penalties in the second,” noted Robertson.

They had five to be exact -all in the second.

“We need to clean that up,” he added.

The Copper Kings had three penalties -one in the second and two in the third.

The Highlanders outshot the Copper Kings 33-28. Neither team scored in the third, and this one ended 7-2.

“We were sloppy in the first period and some of that is to be expected in a first game,” noted coach Dan Giachino, of the Copper Kings. “We settled in and played better in the second and the third as we battled better, but we have a lot to work on.”

UP NEXT

The Copper Kings will face the Hancock Bulldogs on Friday as part of the Copper Island Classic in Calumet. The puck drops at 7 p.m.