Marquette 6 Mona Shores 1

Arch-enemies of the Raving Reporter are urged to reread headline above, note the score, and stop reading here.

Since there’s not a whole lot to do in Alpena in January, Sailors fans filed into the Northern Lights Arena for round 2, the Consolation Game vs. the Marquette Redmen and their head coach Joe Papin (a.k.a. “Joe Pa”) who had lost to Cranbrook Kingswood on Friday night by a score of 5-2. The Redmen were still smarting from their loss and looking for revenge. The Sailors were largely new to Alpena and were just looking for the correct locker room.

Saturday afternoon’s game, in a continuation on a theme from Friday night, left Sailor fans seeing red, which came in the form of a red light over the Mona Shores goal. The opening period appeared to offer hope for Shores. MS came out of the gate out-firing Marquette by nearly a 3-1 margin, but again, in High School Hockey the officials only count the ones which make it past the goal line. On this afternoon, that was a skill exhibited more so by the Redmen than the Sailors. Power play goals were again the bane of the Sailors, with Marquette seizing their opportunities and capitalizing on them while the shorthanded Sailors watched in dismay.

Unlike Friday night, the often telling first goal was scored by Marquette, on the PP of course, at 4:58 of the first by #18, Brandon Smaby. Quality chances continued to favor the Redmen despite their saving their energy by conserving their shots, as a loose puck somehow eluded Shores goalkeeper Dan “Die Hard” Harwood in the crease, and after what seemed like days but was only seconds, was batted into the net by #21, Mike Peterson. This goal at 7:41 put Marquette up 2-0. The Sailors were presented with opportunities, but often failed to recognize or ignored the forward setting up camp on the opposite side of the net. With 2:28 left in the first, JC “Soulja” Boyd, who couldn’t have known at this early stage of the game that he would later earn a Star of the Game award from coaches, took the puck in one-on-none from the blue line and was stoned by Redmen goalie Jon Nezich.

Down by two, the Sailors teased their fans with hopes of a comeback. Marquette gifted the Sailors with two quick penalties early in the 2nd, including too many men, and a 5-3 opportunity. The Sailors began to show a pulse again. First, at 3:12 of the second, Boyd rang the post, awakening a slumbering Marquette loyalist to my immediate right. :39 later, on an assist by Boyd; “Can You Smell What the Brock is Cooking” Carlston quieted ½ of the crowd with the Sailors first goal. This goal was answered on the power play (what else?) by Marquette at 10:53 as Boyd looked on helplessly from the box.

The third period convincingly belonged to the Redmen, who cut loose with a cornucopia of shots and trio of goals, the first with a man advantage at :49 by #15 Ryan Schmeltzer. Not to be outdone, #19 John Aho got his name in the paper at 10:45 and #11 Mark Nettell made his parents proud just seconds later at 11:27 to round out the scoring for the game.

For the game, musical goalie duties were shared by Harwood, Scottie “The Diet Coke of Evil” Tiefenthal, and Harwood again. Shots favored the Sailors by a margin of 25-21.

The Sailors hit of the game came at 2:43 in the first when “Brett of Fresh Air” Grevel de-pants’d a Redmen with a convincing hit at the Sailor blue line, levitating him before he came to land on the unforgiving ice surface.

In all, it was a tough weekend in Alpena for the Sailors. You can read about Friday night's game by clicking here.