The Redmen took a moment to get their skates under them, but quickly gained their trademark speed and control of play in the early moments of the first period.
Marquette were out-shooting the Cougars in the first half of the period, but a tough Macomb Dakota goalie kept the Redmen at bay and the period scoreless. A Cougars shot looked like it found its way into the net in the final minutes of action, but it was a no go and the Redmen cleared the puck. There were no more close calls for either team as the score remained at 0-0 going into the second period.
The second period started off looking much like the first: scoreless, but with both teams hungry for a goal. The Redmen struck first on an Ansel Frost goal, with assistance from Owen Riipi and Gaetano Cammarata. The next goal came within a minute of the first. Evan Kroll buried the puck with Joseph Luke and Lucas Guertin on the assist. Just like that, the Redmen took a 2-0 lead.
Gaetano Cammarata followed up with an even-strength goal, Andrew Fedrizzi and Frost assisting, to give the Redmen a 3-0 lead with five minutes to go. The Cougars were poised to strike and slash the Redmen lead shortly after the flurry of Marquette scoring, but a stunning Brennan Hakkola save protected their three-goal lead going into the final period.
The third period saw no scoring in the first half, but the Cougars stayed hungry for a chance to get back into the game. Macomb Dakota was able to make a little headway on their deficit with a goal from Shane Romback. The Redmen stayed out front at 3-1 with a little over six minutes to go.
Jacob Peterson responded quickly with a Marquette goal. Peterson traveled the length of the ice and took advantage of an empty Cougar net to score a short-handed goal and put the Redmen up 4-1 where the score stayed as the game came to a close.
The Redmen are back in action on Thursday, January 16th against Escanaba on 103 WFXD. Tune in at 6:30 pm for the pregame show, puck drops at 7:00 pm.
Listen to a recording of the live broadcast.
