For two periods, the Calumet Copper Kings had the bulk of the offensive zone time, which was just what coach Dan Giachino was hoping for. However, after 34 minutes of play, the Jets led 2-0. They added two more in the final frame to earn a 4-1 win.

The Jets (22-4 overall) will advance to face the Houghton Gremlins on Tuesday.

“Definitely excited for that opportunity coming up,” said Jets coach Aaron Helminen. “Happy for the boys on grinding out a playoff win. Credit Calumet, Dan and Josh (Frantti) and the crew had their guys hungry as you’d expect. They have a strong hockey tradition there, and they’re a playoff team, and they came at us hard. We were fortunate to get a goal early and spark us.”

The goal Aaron was referring to was one by junior forward Brogan Turner at 8:33 of the first period. The Jets had an offensive zone faceoff after spending much of the opening minutes in their own end of the ice. Co-captain Benton Rajala won the draw, and Turner buried a quick backhand.

Calumet defenseman Matt Frantti looks for a teammate to feed the puck to during a Division 3 Region 17 semifinal game against Calumet at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

“(We were) just happy that they were able to just stick with it, defend well, and then once we got our opportunity, (we finished it),” Aaron said. “Credit our third line. Our third line had a good shift. They ground out, forced them to ice the puck, and then we get an opportunity off the faceoff. So, right away, as soon as it went in, (I) went to the third line, ‘That’s all from you.’

“That’s what we’ve kind of gotten all year, Is just that team focus on guys doing the work for the next guy.”

Giachino and his staff prepared for the way the Jets can sting teams off the faceoff, but their preparation could not stop the play from happening during the game.

“We know that they work that faceoff play pretty well,” he said. “(It was) one of those things we worked on in practice all week, and we lined up incorrectly. We wanted our defenseman lined up on the wing, allowing our winger to bust through, and get to that high guy in the top of the circle. For whatever reason, we had a little mental lapse, and we didn’t line up correctly.”

Despite surrendering the goal, the Copper Kings kept the pressure on throughout the remainder of the first period and all the way through the second period until disaster struck in the final seconds of the period.

Co-captain Ted Loukus had the puck near the Calumet bench when it appeared he was tripped by a Jets forward, which helped spring Jets alternate captain Brit Heinonen for an odd-man rush. While much of the rink’s focus was on Giachino and the Copper Kings’ bench, Heinonen skated down the right boards and fired a backhand on net. As he skated past the net, he poked at Copper Kings goaltender Beau Jukuri, and he ended up knocking the puck in with 4.2 seconds left in the period.

Heinonen had no concept of how much time was left on the clock, according to his coach.

“We talk all the time, a big focus for us always is that first shift of the game, the last shift of the period, how crucial that is for momentum,” Aaron said. “We go heavy at that. For him to score that goal, to tell you the truth, I don’t think he even knew how much time was left. Fortunately for us, he got it in in time, because after he scored, he’s heading to the bench for a change and we’re like, ‘There’s just a couple seconds left.’ The shock on his face was kind of priceless.”

Even with the late goal, Giachino had a lot to like about how his team battled through the first 34 minutes.

“I thought we played a good game,” he said. “In my mind, what I wanted to do is keep this into a 2-1, 3-2-type of a game.

“We struggled getting pucks to the net, and, obviously, struggled putting the puck in the net when we did have some opportunities. (I) felt like we did have some opportunities, especially in the second period. We had two, three pretty good scoring chances. Couldn’t find the back of the net, and that gets tough when you kind of keep going time-wise without putting a goal on the board.”

Calumet’s night got longer early in the third period, when Rajala found the back of the net while on the power play just 3:32 into the third.

The Copper Kings responded quickly with a goal from senior defenseman Matt Frantti at 4:33 when his wrist shot from the right point found the back of the net from the right point, through traffic.

The game remained 3-1 in favor of the Jets until the game’s final minutes, as the Copper Kings pulled Jukuri for an extra attacker. The move ultimately backfired as freshman defenseman Blake Heltunen scored an empty-net goal at 15:50, sealing the win.

Jukuri stopped 24 in the loss for the Copper Kings. Junior Kasen Helminen made 16 saves for the Jets to earn the win.

UP NEXT

With the win, the Jets will now face the top-seeded Gremlins Tuesday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena at 7 p.m.

Even though the Gremlins will be a bit shorthanded without their top two scorers, the Jets have to worry about their own game, rather than anyone else’s.

“I think, as we have all season, we’ve worried more about ourselves,” Aaron said. “We focused on what we do, how we play, and the chips fall where they fall. That’s just really been our focus all year. We spend time trying to prepare for this. We’ll prepare for stuff, but we’re not going to change our game fully to just hold off or sit back on our heels and hope. We want to be on the attack. So, I think we’re excited for Tuesday. Hopefully we can get healthy here.”