Marquette's Andrew Fedrizzi, right, lines up to shoot or pass from the top of the slot as teammate Ryan Baldwin, second from right, waits for the puck during the Redmen's game at the Calumet Colosseum against the Copper Kings on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by Jamie Glenn)

By JAMIE GLENN

Houghton Daily

Mining Gazette

CALUMET — For the second time in a week, a trip north and west for the Marquette Senior High School hockey team turned out poorly.

The Redmen were outskated in a 7-1 drubbing by Calumet at the Calumet Colosseum on Thursday night, exactly one week after Houghton handed MSHS a 6-1 setback a few miles south at Dee Stadium.

Those are the only two losses suffered by Marquette since mid-December as the Redmen built a 16-game unbeaten streak until their trip to Houghton.

“I thought we kind of did what we’ve been doing the last few weeks,” Copper Kings coach Dan Giachino said after his team improved to 19-6. “We’ve been playing some really good solid hockey. I thought we controlled the puck in the offensive zone and generated some good scoring chances. (The) power play was very good tonight.”

Marquette assistant coach Ethan Jones saw Calumet’s speed as a big challenging for his team.

“I thought we couldn’t match their speed,” Jones said. “They’re a good team. It’s just something that we have to adjust to. It’s always hard to play here, too, this is not an easy building.

“We have to pick up the pace for (next week’s) playoffs. I didn’t think we played bad, there’s definitely some things we could improve on.”

Jones highlighted the play of sophomore goaltender Brennen Hakkola, who took over in the net for the second period.

“I think we need to move the puck faster and just pick up the overall pace,” Jones said. “I thought Brennen Hakkola, the goalie came in, played well. I thought he played strong.”

Marquette plays at Kingsford to open the MHSAA Division 2 regional tournament on Tuesday night.

“It’s going to be the same matchup as last year for the playoffs,” Jones said. “Last year we lost to them, so hopefully this year we can bounce back and get the win.

“I think we need to pick up the intensity in practice (and) just get ready to battle.”

On Thursday, senior forward Rylan Anderson got Calumet on the board 2:06 into the contest, assisted by forwards Seth Coppo and Alex Mattila.

The Copper Kings took a two-goal lead before the period ended just as Redman goaltender Tyler Bergwall fell to his knees in an effort to make a save as Tanner Rowe found the back of the net on the power play.

Calumet made it 6-1 by the end of the middle period with goals by Gabe Coppo, Dean Loukus and Nolan Jenich coming in the second period’s first 6 1/2 minutes.

The Redmen got their only goal when Ryan Baldwin scored on an unassisted breakaway 45 seconds after the Copper Kings made it 5-0.

Calumet closed out the frame with another man-advantage goal by Brent Loukus.

“I thought our penalty kill was good in the first period,” Giachino said. “We had a penalty or two to kill there and we did a nice job with that. We had one little breakdown, we gave them a breakaway, other than that we played pretty clean defensively.”

The Copper Kings added one more goal in the third from Brent Loukus on a power play.