Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Above : The Calumet Copper Kings are all smiles after winning the 49th annual Copper Island Classic against the Hancock Bulldogs at the Calumet Colosseum on Saturday in Calumet.

By Eddie O’Neill

eoneill@mininggazette.com

CALUMET – After two nights and six periods of hockey, the Calumet Copper Kings brought the John H. Sherf trophy back to Calumet as they dominated the Copper Island Classic over the Hancock Bulldogs. They outscored the Bulldogs 9-2 in the two-game series winning 2-1 on Friday night and 7-1 on Saturday night.

GAME ONE

Friday night was the more competitive night of the two nights. The cross town rivals skated to a 0-0 knot after the first period. Hancock out shot the Copper Kings 8-6.

Calumet opened the second with a goal just 55 second into the period. Ben Anderson found the back of the net. They added another one at the around the 10-minute mark when Brendan Boberg put a wrister in past Hancock’s netminder Isaac Johnson. They now led 2-0.

In the third, the Bulldogs put in their only tally of the night courtesy of Tevin Stukel. He popped a loose puck in with around five minutes left in the game. This one ended 2-1 and set the stage for anther good game for Saturday night at the Calumet Colosseum.

Coach Dan Giachino, of the Copper Kings, was pleased with the win particularly after a poor performance in their opener a week earlier against Howell.

“It was a gritty win for us. It was a tight game right down to the last minute and that was good for us to be in that uncomfortable situation,” he noted.

Hancock coach Pete Rouleau liked what he saw in the opener and was hopeful that they could do even better on Saturday.

” We played pretty well,” he said. “We came out good in the fist and the third. We were a little flat in the second. We need to come with more energy tomorrow night and play a complete game.”

GAME TWO

That energy did not happen at least for the Bulldogs. Saturday night belong to the home team. The Copper Kings brought the energy to the tune of four goals in the first nine minutes of the this one.

In short the Bulldogs didn’t know what hit them. The Copper Kings were quick on pucks and strong on defense as they prevented the Bulldogs to generate any real push up the ice or scoring opportunities.

Brady Boberg put in Calumet’s first goal and Ben Anderson had the second. Matt Frantti then fired in goal number three – a slap shot from the top of the point that was all net. He did it again less than a minute later with another line drive of a shot.

“Matt gets the game puck,” stated his coach. “He put two hard shots on net. He has an incredible shot, and we got two goals out of him.”

The Copper Kings added two more goals in the second courtesy of Boberg and Nathan Londo. They also added on some penalty minutes including a five-minute major by Kobe Solomonson for head contact. This one was much more physical than the night before. The Copper Kings rang up 11 minutes in penalties while the Bulldogs tallied 10. However, Giachino was not complaining.

He said, “We want to put bodies on people and wear teams down. All three lines had real good games today.”

While Calumet’s Liam Pomroy put in his team’s seventh goal to start the third period, the Bulldogs avoided the shutout courtesy of Jackson Sintkowski. He put in a wrist shot unassisted at the top of the crease with around three minutes to go. This one ended 7-1.

Giachino is hoping that these two wins will be an omen for a strong-winning season.

“We came out strong, and our offense was clicking,” he said. They had good rhythm. We hit our stride and passing was much better. We had good goal tending. This was a team win.”

The series win marked the 31st victory for the Copper Kings in the Copper Island Classic’s near 50-year history.

UP NEXT

The Copper King will travel to Marquette on Tuesday to face the Sentinels. The Bulldogs will welcome the Escanaba Eskymos on Saturday at the HOCO Arena.