HOUGHTON - Most mountains worth climbing take a while to summit. For the Hancock Bulldogs, it was about 5 1/2 weeks.

After an 8-1 blowout to Houghton in the MacInnes Holiday Classic Dec. 28 and a 6-4 defeat Jan. 10 at Dee Stadium, the Bulldogs were kings of the hill Wednesday in the annual Wing Ding showdown, defeating the Gremlins 4-1.

"It's so long since we've won and so long since we've beaten Houghton, period. It feels really good to finally do it," Hancock senior goaltender William Lucier said.

Article Photos

Hancock hockey players celebrate a third-period goal by Larry Fallon (17)?during the third period of Wednesday’s game against Houghton at Dee Stadium. Hancock won the Wing Ding showdown 4-1. (DMG photo by Brandon Veale)

 

Lucier had a few adventures, but was generally solid, making 32 saves as he and the Bulldog defense were only the third team this season to hold Houghton's potent offense to a single goal over 51 minutes despite having to kill off five Gremlin power plays.

"Our goaltender was great all game, but on the penalty kill, he was awesome, and if the goalie's not up to task on the penalty kill that does kill it a little bit," Hancock coach Dan Rouleau said.

The Bulldogs kept Gremlin forwards from making long rushes and disrupted passing throughout the evening.

"You can't let them wind up ... you've got to get in their path a little bit as they're coming up ice and make them go east-west instead of north-south," Rouleau said.

The line that saw the most time against Houghton's top unit, the "gold line" of Tanner Kearly, Larry Fallon and Hayden Heikkinen, had a particularly big night, combining for six points.

It was from them the key first goal came, as Kearly scored the opener the day before his 18th birthday after a long goalmouth scramble at 7:41 of the first. Hancock controlled the game territorially in the first, outshooting the Gremlins 9-5.

"The guys battled and battled, and that's the kind of goal we've got to score against Houghton to beat them," Rouleau said.

Even when the tables turned in the last two frames, having the lead set the tone in the visitors' favor.

"We blocked a lot of shots really well, we cleared the front really well, we made a lot of very good passes, we were working together really well ... when you do that, good things will happen," Lucier said.

In the second, Lucier turned the puck over behind his net, but as he scrambled back into his crease, he went down and lost his mask. Though Houghton put the puck in seconds later, the play was correctly disallowed, as the rules mandate an immediate stoppage once the goalie loses his headgear.

Lucier also skated all the way to center ice upon seeing an official with his hand up, but instead of a delayed penalty, it was a delayed offside. He got back to his crease without incident.

In between, he made 16 saves in the second frame alone.

In the third, Hancock bagged a pair of quick ones against a Gremlin squad trying to get back into it. First, Zach Ahola walked in from the right to shoot past Houghton's Jayson Wiitala at 5:00, then Fallon scored the 3-0 goal 2:46 later.

The Gremlins finally broke through when Ray Brice's pass from behind the net was deflected into the air and batted into the net by Jonathan Bostwick at 10:41, but Alex Hill fired home the clincher for HCH about four minutes later, setting off wild celebrations for the red-clad fans in a solid crowd.

Houghton coach Corey Markham said the defeat wasn't about mental focus ahead of the MIHL Showcase to which his team is traveling today.

"I thought us coming off our last three games being mercy rule games and not having a lot of competition hurt us early on. After the first period, I thought we competed extremely hard, and we had tons of chances and (Lucier) made a lot of good saves. We hit some pipes, a lot of chances and it wasn't our night with that," he said.

Wiitala stopped 17 shots for Houghton (16-3), which will face Brighton and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in Trenton.

This game was non-conference, but the teams will meet at Houghton County Arena in the regular season finale Feb. 20, and the Gremlins hope to have learned their lesson.

"Until it happens a lot of kids don't fully believe that would happen. They came out, played an awesome game and they beat us," Markham said. "So, everyone's very well aware that they're very capable of beating us now. That, in itself, is something that you have to learn from. We have to grow from that and we've also got to get better. You can't stay the same and go throughout the season. We've got to get better, but I think we can grow from this loss."

Now, for Hancock, it's not just about getting to the summit, but staying there.

"You start right now by enjoying this one tonight and forgetting about it. This team is never going to be easy to beat, they weren't easy to beat tonight and they're going to keep coming at us," Rouleau said.