Marquette’s Ethan Jones, right, chases after Warren De La Salle’s Preston Koslakiewicz Friday night at Lakeview Arena in Marquette. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette hockey team got off to a slow start Friday night and it couldn’t recover.

Warren De La Salle was just a little too fast for MSHS and the Pilots used two first-period goals to help top the Redmen 3-0. MSHS goalie Dylan Sibilsky finished with 17 saves.

The Redmen were also hurt by penalties, which put helped squash any potential offense during the opening period.

“Usually you have a tendency to take penalties when the other team has a lot of speed,” Redmen head coach Doug Garrow said. “That team has a lot of good team speed and I think in the first period, we struggled to keep up with them and we weren’t used to that.

“As the game went on, I thought we got better. They just capitalized on their scoring opportunities and we didn’t.”

After spending the majority of the first period in the Marquette end, DLS got on the scoreboard at the 6:05 mark. With the Pilots on a power play, DLS winger Jeremy Coppola went top shelf and the puck went just over Sibilsky’s glove.

Just a short while later, the Pilots struck again. Sibilsky made two saves on a rush, but on the second one, the puck went right to center Cameron Chrisman, who flipped it into the open net.

“The first goal was on a breakdown on our penalty kill and the guy made a nice shot over the shoulder,” Garrow said. “The second goal was a 3-on-2 against us that was another breakdown on our part and Dylan was kind of left hanging there. We’ve got to get better defensively and tighten it up in our end.”

Marquette had some better scoring chances in the second, but just couldn’t put them in the net. A shot by Kobie Guideback went off the crossbar early in the period, and with 11:50 remaining, Sterling Wright got a good look from the point, but DLS goalie Andrew Grewette made the save.

In the third period, the Redmen were in desperate need of a goal. However, it was DLS who ended up getting it to put the game out of reach. At the 11:52 mark and with the man advantage, Pilots forward Joshua Glinski tucked a rolling puck past the far post to give DLS its final tally.

“We’re 3-2 and we obviously wish we could be better,” Garrow said of his team’s record. “What I’m looking for is more consistency on a game-by-game basis. We’re pretty inconsistent. We don’t play the same way every night.

“I’m not sure which team I’m going to get every game. I’m just looking to get more consistency out of them. If we can do that, then I’ll be happy.”

The two teams will battle again at 1 p.m. today back at Lakeview Arena.

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