The Calumet Copper Kings hockey team entered Saturday’s matchup with the visiting Notre Dame Tritons as the No. 1 team in D3. While the outcome, a 5-3 loss at the Calumet Colosseum, probably does very little to change that, given that the Tritons are a Wisconsin school, it certainly proved that the Copper Kings are not quite where they want to be with just two games left before the regional tournament.

The Copper Kings (18-4-1 overall) carried a 3-1 lead into the final frame, and were playing some very strong hockey through the first 34 minutes of the contest, but things took a bad turn junior winger Seth Coppo was whistled for a cross check 1:46 into the third period.

From there, the Tritons went to work. Three passes in quick succession ended with a hard pass from Sawyer Scholl at the top of the left circle to Brendan Poshak near the right faceoff dot. Poshak, the son of former Copper Kings skater Brian Poshak, found himself with a wide open net and he deposited the puck at 2:15.

From there, the Tritons added three more goals to earn the win.

“We have nothing but respect for Calumet and their program,” said Tritons coach Cory McCracken. “They certainly gave it to us in the first period put us back on our heels again. I’m happy with how our guys responded a little bit for parts of that in the second period, and then they put us back in our heels again.

“The third period, I think we started to show signs of what we are as a team a little bit and, and got a little bit more direct and to the net was some things, which is good. It’s a great game for both teams that you’re ready to go into the postseason.”

While he was disappointed with the outcome, Copper Kings coach Dan Giachino found a number of positives in the way his team played.

“I thought we played a really good hockey game today against a really good hockey team,” he said. “We did a lot of good (things). I thought we played well in the third period. We gave up a power play goal. They got kind of clawed back into it, and they get two (goals) a little bit later in the period.

“I thought we played well. I thought the kids worked their butts off and I think we just ended up coming up basically a goal short.”

The backbreaking goal for the Copper Kings came off the stick of Max McNeil at the right point. McNeil floated a shot on net that goaltender Alex Studebaker got a piece of with the top of his glove, but the puck bounced off it and into the net at 11:44 of the third,

From there, things went from bad to worse when Tritons center Isaac Rentmeester scored his second goal of the night on another lengthy shot that found its way past Studebaker, giving Notre Dame its first lead of the game.

While shorthanded and down 6-on-4 late due to Giachino’s pulling of Studebaker for an extra attacker, Scholl stole a pass back to the point, banked the puck off the boards and down the ice, beating everyone to before depositing it in the empty net with 29.2 seconds left to seal the win.

The Tritons, who faced Catholic Central and Brother Rice in the MIHL Showcase a week ago, feel good about where their game is after defeating the Copper Kings in Calumet.

“We’ve had four games against No. 1 teams the last four times that we played and it’s a great prep for the playoffs,” McCracken said. “(These were) two really good hockey teams and I think you’re gonna hear a lot of noise out of Calumet down the stretch.”

Giving up four goals in the third period was something the Copper Kings had not done all season. Giachino remained confident after the game that Studebaker would learn from his mistakes quickly.

“He’ll bounce back,” Giachino said. “I’m not worried about that. He’s a senior, experienced goaltender. He’ll bounce back and (I am) fully confident that he’ll be fine.”

After weathering the initial storm from the Tritons to open the contest, the Copper Kings, like a heavyweight prizefighter, punched back with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart in the first period.

The first came off the stick of senior winger Alex Mattila at 3:51 while Calumet was killing off a penalty. With the Tritons defense backing into their own end, junior center Tanner Rowe forced a turnover with his pressure. Once he secured the puck, he fed it to Mattila, who was driving through the slot. Mattila made a quick move to his backhand to beat Notre Dame goaltender Bo Buckley for the tally.

On their next shift, Rowe and Mattila were again the center of attention for the Copper Kings during a forecheck that eventually saw Rowe secure the puck and feed it to Mattila behind the Tritons’ net. Mattila quickly looked out front and found senior winger Gabe Coppo, whose backhand hit Buckley and bounced into the net at 5:49.

A little over a minute later, Rowe again found himself in position to score when he drove through the neutral zone and took a lead pass. He blew past the Tritons’ defense and skated in alone, but his wrist shot was snatched up by Buckley.

For the next eight minutes, the Copper Kings could not muster a shot on goal and, to make matters worse, they gave up a goal over that stretch when Rentmeester poked a rebound off a shot from Josh DeLange past Studebaker at 8:36.

The second period was a little slower than the first, and that played right into Calumet’s hands, as they started to use their forecheck to grind down the Tritons’ defense. Eventually, their hard work led to a power play with just over six minutes left in the frame.

On the advantage, Mattila got the puck in the left circle with his head up. Seeing Gabe Coppo sneaking in on the back door, Mattila fed him a pass that Coppo could release quickly, beating Buckley at 11:18 for the tally, giving the Copper Kings their two-goal advantage that they carried into the third.

The Copper Kings do not have long to lick their wounds as they travel to Houghton on Tuesday to face the Gremlins, who are fresh off an 8-2 victory over Hancock on Friday night.

Scoring

Notre Dame 1 0 4 – 5

Calumet 2 1 0 – 3

First period

1, CHS, Alex Mattila (Tanner Rowe), SH, 3:51

2, CHS, Gabe Coppo (Mattila, Rowe), 5:49

3, ND, Isaac Rentmeester (Josh DeLange), 8:36

Second period

4, CHS, Coppo (Mattila, Nick Djerf), PP, 11:18

Third period

5, ND, Brendan Poshak (Sawyer Scholl, Jacob Conrad), PP, 2:15

6, ND, Max McNeil, 11:44

7, ND, Rentmeester (Corbin Skinner), 13:27

8, ND, Scholl, EN, 16:31

Saves

Buckley, ND 9 7 6 – 22

Studebaker, CHS 12 6 6 – 24

Power plays

ND: 1/3; CHS: 0/2

Penalties

ND: 2/4; CHS: 3/6