Marquette’s Owen Riipi, left, and Kingsford’s Hunter Fortner fight for control of the puck in their high school hockey game played Tuesday at Lakeview Arena in Marquette. (Journal photo by Amy Grigas)

“We haven’t played that game yet and I’ll tell you on March 14 if we’ve played that game. If we win the state title, I’ll be happy.” — Doug Garrow, Marquette head hockey coach, on whether the Redmen have achieved perfection

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MARQUETTE — When the Marquette and Kingsford hockey teams first squared off at Mountain View Ice Arena in Iron Mountain on Dec. 19, it was a tight 3-1 decision that went in favor of the Redmen.

These teams met for the second time at Lakeview Arena on Tuesday night, but this time, the score wasn’t as close.

MSHS repeatedly hit the twine to pick up a 7-0 victory over the Flivvers and improve to 13-3, winning eight of their last nine and snapping Kingsford’s own four-game win streak.

Four Redmen recorded multiple points with defensemen Evan Kroll and Jakob Peterson each tallying two goals and defenseman Owen Riipi and forward Gaetano Cammarata adding two assists apiece.

It was also the fourth shutout of the year for Marquette with junior goaltender Brennan Hakkola earning this one as he notched 10 saves.

MSHS head coach Doug Garrow said his team simply had more puck luck than in the first meeting with Kingsford, also noting the play of Flivvers senior netminder Evan Hedtke, who stopped 36 of 43 Marquette attempts.

“They’ve got a good goalie,” Garrow said. “Down there I think we outshot them like we did (tonight), it’s just (tonight) we got a few more bounces and we played better as the game went on.

“The first period was probably our weakest period, but as the game went on I thought we started to play with more tempo and more speed. We started moving our feet and moving the puck more.”

All three of Marquette’s losses have been one-goal decisions, meaning the Redmen seem to be rolling, even in defeat. Garrow made it clear that he never wants to become content.

“I’m never comfortable,” he said. “There’s never a perfect game. We haven’t played that game yet and I’ll tell you on March 14 if we’ve played that game. If we win a state title, I’ll be happy. Until then, I think we always have room for improvement. Good teams keep trying to look for ways to get better and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The Flivvers fell to 8-8 as head coach Greg Wadge said the effort was there, but set plays and shot totals need improvement.

MSHS outshot the Flivvers 43-10 with Kingsford sitting at just eight shots entering the third period. Kingsford also had four power play chances but were unable to capitalize on any.

The Redmen wasted no time finding the back of the net with Kroll notching his first of the night 1:55 in. Kroll scored later in the period as well to make it a 2-0.

Lucas Guertin made the game 3-0 in the second period on a slap shot from the point that managed to bounce through traffic in front of the net and by Hedtke.

The Redmen put a stranglehold on the game in the third, rattling off four goals.

Marquette visits Sault Ste. Marie for the Soo Showcase this weekend, facing Grosse Pointe South (13-2) Friday and Port Huron Northern (7-8) Saturday.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.