Negaunee’s Bryce Jarvi, front, takes the puck with teammate Jack Mattias, left, trailing as Escanaba defender Brayden Stannard, center, closes in during their high school hockey game on Monday evening at the Negaunee Ice Arena. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

“I’ve got a young team, so we’re still trying to figure things out.” — Josh Chapman, head coach, Negaunee hockey

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NEGAUNEE — After the first period Monday night, it looked as if the hockey game between Escanaba and Negaunee would be a tight one till the final horn.

But things got out of control in the second period as the Eskymos erupted for six goals in those 17 minutes and Escanaba kept pouring it on in the third en route to a 13-6 win over the Miners.

Brayden Stannard scored five goals for Escanaba, while Kyle Krutina scored three.

Anders Sorensen and Bryce Jarvi both put in two goals for Negaunee.

“We were able to attack them with a little bit of speed and we capitalized on our chances,” Escanaba head coach Matt Hughes said. “We moved the puck pretty well and we were able to establish some offense down low, which opened up our defensemen up top. With all of those things, we got some good quality chances.”

For Negaunee head coach Josh Chapman, the game came down to penalties and mistakes.

“Penalties definitely hurt us,” he said. “We kind of abandoned our defensive zone and started running around chasing the puck. We left the back guy open many times and I think they had four or five back-door goals on us.

“Peyton (Anderson) and Anders both had good nights and Bryce had two goals. So there were some positives. Not a lot, but it’s still very early. I’ve got a young team, so we’re still trying to figure things out.”

Negaunee got on the board first when Anderson went top shelf at the 7:52 mark of the opening period, but Escanaba answered two minutes later on a power play when Stannard got a cross-ice pass from Christer Carne and shot it past Miners goalie Preston Maki. With a minute left before intermission, the Eskymos took the lead on a tally by Grant Wickham and went up 2-1.

The teams exchanged goals early in the second with Krutina netting his first tally at the 3:24 mark to extend Escanaba’s lead to 3-1 and then Jarvi putting in his first goal at the 5:08 mark with the Miners on the power play to cut the deficit back to one.

That’s the closest Negaunee would get, though, as Escanaba kicked it into gear from that point on. With the help of power play goals from Stannard and Blaine Reinhart, the Eskymos led 8-3 at the end of the period.

“That’s probably about the best our power play has looked so far,” Hughes said. “We moved the puck well and we didn’t force our shots a whole lot. The lanes started to open up and we made the right decisions.”

Negaunee got a goal back just 18 seconds into the third period, but it was too late for the Miners to rally as Escanaba added five more goals to their total to close out the victory.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.