Lumberjacks topple Marshall in close game

After outshooting the Marshall Hilltoppers 28-14 through two periods, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who thought the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team would be in a dead-even tie at 1-1. The 'Toppers woke up early in the third period and eventually grabbed a lead, but the resilience of the Lumberjacks was rewarded as CEC scored back-to-back late goals to come away with a 3-2 win Tuesday night in Duluth.

The only goal of the first period was scored by Marshall's Carter Sullivan at the 8:49 mark on the power play. Sullivan's goal was assisted by Carson Mehling and Griff Pritchett. The period also saw the Lumberjacks power play unit go 0-for-2 and, despite a distinct territorial advantage for CEC, the 'Jacks were down 1-0 after the opening stanza.

It was more of the same in the second period with CEC dominating shots on goal, but still struggling to score on the power play against the 'Toppers until Landon Langenbrunner made it 1-1 at 7:45 of the period on a nice assist from Kade Bender.

"We had a lot of shots and they were quality opportunities," said CEC head coach Shea Walters. "However, we did not get a lot of second chances after the initial shot."

With the game in a 1-1 deadlock after two periods, the ice tilt suddenly went in favor of the Hilltoppers to start the third period as they put pressure on CEC and their goalie Wyatt Senich. Eventually Marshall found the back of the net on a goal at 6:21 by Keelan Golat with the assist going to Aiden Blanchard. Marshall came at the 'Jacks hard early in the period and had CEC on their heels.

"After they got the go-ahead goal, our guys just kept working hard and trying to get the puck to the net," Walters said. "Eventually we got a very nice goal by Rasmussen (Gavin) which all started with a nice rush and a backdoor feed from Sam Olson."

Entering the third period, things looked bleak for CEC until Rasmussen's goal, which evened the score at 3:18 of the period.

Then with 23 seconds remaining, a brilliant passing play led to Kade Bender ripping home a top shelf goal past Marshall netminder Alex Busick, who was magnificent throughout the game. The goal was assisted by Rasmussen and Cole Ketola and featured a brilliant give-and-go pass allowing Bender to score the game winner.

"Kade's goal was huge," Walters said excitedly after the game. "He has been getting more opportunities lately and he is finding the back of the net."

Busick finished with 42 saves on 45 shots and was nearly good enough to steal the game for the Hilltoppers. Despite hammering 15 shots in the first period on Busick, the 'Jacks were down 1-0 when the period ended. A big thorn in the Lumberjacks' side was an 0-for-2 effort on the power play in the first period, an 0-for-1 effort in the second period and another 0-for-2 effort in the final period. For the game, the 'Jacks had five chances on the power play, but did not score with the man advantage.

"We did have a beautiful goal that was called off, which would have been a huge boost to our power play," Walters said. "And we did have several golden opportunities that their goalie made some big saves on."

Senich played well for CEC, making 19 saves on 21 shots as CEC moved its record to 6-8 on the season. Next up for CEC is Eden Prairie on Friday night at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.