By DAVER KARNOSKY

Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

HOUGHTON — It’s not often that a coach looks at his team’s 6-1 loss and feels that his team is making progress.

However, that is exactly how Jeffers head coach Patrick Nettell felt Tuesday after his hockey team’s loss to the visiting Marquette at Michigan Tech’s MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Considering his team gave the Redmen (6-2 overall, 6-2 Great Lakes Hockey Conference) all they could handle in the first period and came away trailing just 1-0, Nettell felt his team was making tangible progress, especially when compared to the start of the season.

“We battled. We played well defensively,” he said. “We made mistakes, but we’re correcting them. It shows we’re correcting them.

“Tonight’s another night that showed that we’re progressing forward.”

For Redmen coach Doug Garrow, he was happy his team won, but know there is still a lot he’s planning to work on in practice. He still sees areas of his team’s game that he wants to improve before the playoffs come in March.

“We’re not really worried about how we’re playing in February as much as we’re going to be worried about how we’re playing (in) the middle of March for playoffs,” Garrow said. “We’re just taking every game game-by-game, and just trying to get better as a team and do things that we need to improve on. (We need to) try to get better at what we need to work on.”

Two players for the Redmen had strong nights. Freshman winger Jackson Potulny scored a goal and added an assist, both in the second period.

“He’s probably our most gifted player offensively, because he has such good IQ for the game,” Garrow said. “He understands the game and where to be, and maybe where the puck’s going to be.”

The 6-foot-2 son of Northern Michigan Wildcats head hockey coach Grant Potulny created matchup problems for the Jets all night.

Garrow was also excited about the exploits of junior defenseman Brayden Grange. He scored twice in the third period, the first at 3:26 from the right point and the second at 10:17 when he drove the puck coast to coast, putting the game out of reach after getting an assist in the first period.

“One thing we are harping on him is to shoot the puck more, because he has a good shot,” Garrow said. “Sometimes he wants to over handle the puck and get closer.

“We’re just trying to tell our guys when you get to the top of the circle, sometimes instead of trying to beat that defender, maybe use him as a screen, use him, pull it and shoot between his legs and surprise the goalie. His first one, he did that. He had a really nice shot.”

Trailing 4-0 heading into the third period, Nettell challenged his team to come out hard. Freshman Cage Osterman did just that, forechecking into the right corner, causing a turnover. The puck eventually made its way in front of the net, where junior winger Cooper Burkman made a quick move before lifting the puck over a stretched-out Brennan Hakkola for the goal just 46 seconds in.

“Bottom line, you have to have somebody that wants to get the puck in the offensive zone,” Nettell said. “You have to put yourself in harm’s way, taking the hit to make the play. That’s the culture that we’re trying to establish here. Sacrifice, dedication, taking one for the team.”

Jets sophomore Simon Rajala made 35 saves in the loss. The Jets also blocked another 33 Redmen shot attempts.

With the loss, the Jets fall to 1-6 overall and in the GLHC.