Looking for a spot in the championship game of the 45th annual John MacInnes Holiday Hockey Classic, the Calumet Copper Kings struck twice in the first period, once in the second and three more times in the third to cruise to a 7-0 win over the Hancock Bulldogs on Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Copper Kings coach Dan Giachino was happy to see his team get the win, but was not particularly pleased with how they got it done.

“I just thought we were just sloppy and intensity level wasn’t where we needed it to be,” Giachino said. “We converted offensively. (It) would have been nice to get a few more there early in the game and put us in a better position, but the kids finished strong and we’re gonna be happy about that.”

The Copper Kings will face the Houghton Gremlins at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs will take on the Jeffers Jets in the third-place game at 1 p.m.

For the Bulldogs, the loss marked their third of the season to the Copper Kings, who beat them 3-0 and 5-0 during the Copper Island Classic earlier this season. What was particularly frustrating for head coach Dan Rouleau was the Bulldogs inability to score yet again against their rivals from farther north.

“Their goaltending is fantastic,” Rouleau said. “I mean, we haven’t solved them in three games. Right now, they’re that much better than us.”

Alex Studebaker earned his 12th career shutout with the win, extending Calumet’s career shutouts record by making 17 saves.

For a good chunk of the opening frame, it appeared that the Copper Kings were not fully engaged in their matchup with the Bulldogs, whom they were facing for the third time this season. That all changed in a matter of 34 seconds in the second half of the opening period.

Hancock captain Colton Salani took a penalty just over nine minutes into the period. During the ensuing advantage, Calumet’s Tanner Rowe parked himself just to the left of Bulldogs goaltender Brandon Pietila.

The junior just had to wait for his opportunity, which he got when captain Scott Loukus fired a shot that Pietila fought off. The puck bounced to his left, right where Rowe was positioned, and the Copper Kings’ winger wasted no time burying the rebound at 9:48.

Only 34 seconds later, Copper Kings’ senior Alex Mattila and sophomore Jackson Rilei broke into the offensive zone on a 2-on-0. Mattila took a pass from Rilei and drove to the net, beating Pietila with a quick move to his forehand.

“We lost a ton of puck battles where we had the puck and then we end up losing the puck,” Rouleau said. “That shouldn’t happen as often as it did.”

After Calumet’s second goal, the Bulldogs seemed to settle back down and started to push back. Their best chance to cut into the Copper Kings’ lead came with just over three minutes left when freshman Calvin Heinonen and Salani created a 2-on-0 from the hash marks in. Heinonen attempted to make a quick move to his backhand, but was stopped by Studebaker.

Early in the middle frame, Hancock found themselves again in a great position to score when junior Austin Salani drove hard to the net and made a move to his forehand. His shot was stopped, but he drew a penalty on the play. While Hancock did not score on that advantage, they drew a more lengthy advantage two minutes later when Scott Loukus drove a Bulldogs’ defender into the boards hard.

The Bulldogs struggled to manufacture chances on the major power play before the Copper Kings took advantage of a mixup in the Bulldogs’ end of the rink.

Junior Dean Loukus grabbed a loose puck and moved it quickly over to junior Noah Jukuri. Jukuri wired a shot that appeared to actually hit both posts and skitter away harmlessly, but the referees on the ice felt the puck crossed the goal line, giving the Copper Kings a 3-0 lead at 8:59.

Scott Loukus pushed the Copper Kings’ lead to four just 29 seconds into the third period when he beat Pietila with a shot over the right shoulder. Loukus struck again at 8:13 to push the lead to 6-0 by beating Pietila with a backhand shot. Dean Loukus picked up the lone assist on the tally.

“That’s exactly the way we wanted,” Giachino said. “We talked in the locker room (about) basically the first three to five minutes of the period, getting the next goal and kind of putting putting the game out of reach. To get it in the first shift was ideal.”

In between goals by Loukus, Rilei took advantage of a rebound and picked up a goal at 6:41.

The Copper Kings added a seventh goal with just 2:35 left in the game when Seth Coppo scored at the end of a Calumet power-play.

Calumet 2 1 4 — 7

Hancock 0 0 0 — 0

First Period–1, CAL, T. Rowe (S. Loukus, D. Loukus), PP, 9:48. 2, CAL, Mattila (Rilei), 10:22.

Second Period–3, CAL, Jukuri (D. Loukus), SH, 8:59.

Third Period–4, CAL, S. Loukus, 0:29. 5, CAL, Rilei (Jukuri, H. Rowe), 6:41. 6, CAL, S. Loukus (D. Loukus), 8:13. 7, CAL, S. Coppo (Paul Sturos), PP, 14:35.

Saves– CAL, Studebaker 5-10-2–17. HAN, Pietila, 11-5-10–26.

Power-play Opportunities– CAL 1 of 2. HAN 0 of 2.

Penalties-minutes–CAL 2-7; HAN 2-4.