The Calumet Copper Kings took control of the ice early in their game Friday night against the University of Detroit-Jesuit Cubs for a relentless 8-0 win at the Calumet Colosseum.

Copper Kings coach Dan Giachino felt that his team’s focus on the details of the game as the key to their shutout victory.

“We played a total game tonight,” said Giachino. “Everybody was on board (tonight). We were all going in the same direction. That’s what we’ve been talking about all week in the locker room, getting our focus. It’s a good thing, you can see that when it all comes together.”

Cubs coach Rick Bennetts saw a few scoring chances early in the contest but had few positives to find as the game went on.

“It looked to me like they had ten guys on the ice and we had five,” Bennetts said. “We had no answers for anything that they did. We had a few chances early in the game and maybe it would’ve made a difference if we could’ve got a goal. They beat us to every puck. There was really nothing that I could look at and say that we’ve got something to work with.”

Sophomore winger Tanner Rowe opened the scoring by shooting the puck into the right side of the net just as Cubs goaltender Owen Przybylo was falling to his knees just 5:43 into the game.

Captain Brent Loukus then extended the lead less than a minute later.

Rowe potted his second of the night at 10:59 as the Copper Kings (11-3-0 overall) took control of the contest for good.

In the middle frame, the Copper Kings continued their push with a goal just 4:03 in from junior defenseman Nick Djerf on a power play.

Junior winger Gabe Coppo extended the lead to five at 8:06. Senior defenseman Nolan Jenich then added a goal on a delayed penalty at 14:23 to push the Calumet lead to 6-0 heading into the third.

That is when Giachino felt comfortable with the way his team was performing.

“Realistically after the second period, I thought we were in a pretty good spot.” said Giachino. “I thought we were playing really good hockey up until that point, (so) if there was a point that I felt good about it, it was definitely after we hit it for two periods and played the way we’re capable of playing.”

Giachino liked the efforts he got from all of his forwards.

“We got contributions (from) all three lines today,” said Giachino. “Both power play units I think put pucks in the net and we pitched a shutout. Our defense and our goaltending played well. I thought we played a complete team hockey game today.”

Dean Loukus passed to Scott Loukus at 12:27 into the third to give the Copper Kings a touchdown for a lead.

Alex Mattila capped the scoring at 15:51, ending the contest.

Both the Copper Kings and the Cubs are not done yet, they will face the Cubs again on Saturday.

“They’re going to come out even harder tomorrow,” said Giachino. “We’ve got to play even better. I think we can keep pushing and going in the right direction.”

“Going into tomorrow,” said Bennetts,“the only good thing is that the game starts 0-0. We knew at any point in time that this could happen. We were just hoping that it wasn’t going to be this weekend when we were here. Our answers for tomorrow is going to hopefully be to get pucks out of their end and into our end and win some 1-on-1 battles.”

The Cubs fell to 11-4-0 on the season with the loss.

Scoring

Detroit Jesuit 0 0 0 – 0

Calumet 3 3 2 – 8

First period

1, CLK, Tanner Rowe (Alex Mattila, Sam Erkkila), 5:43

2, CLK, Brent Loukus (Gabe Coppo), 6:39

3, CLK, Tanner Rowe (Alex Mattila), 10:59  

Second period

4, CLK, Nick Djerf (Scott Loukus, Brent Loukus), PP, 4:03

5, CLK, Gabe Coppo, 8:06

6, CLK, Nolan Jenich (Gabe Coppo, Cam Kauppinen), 14:23

Third period

7, CLK, Scott Loukus (Dean Loukus), 12:37

8, CLK, Alex Mattila (Gabe Coppo, Brent Loukus), PP, 15:51

Saves

UDJ, Przybylo 12 1 0 – 13

Morency 0 5 6 – 11

CLK, Studebaker 11 6 4 – 21

Power plays

UDJ: 0/2; CLK: 2/4

Penalties

UDJ: 4/8; CLK: 2/4