Thunder put Marquette on ice

MARINETTE — The M&M Thunder high school hockey team scored a pair of wins over Marquette at the REC Center on Sunday.

The Thunder took game one 7-5 and game two by a score of 9-8.

While Wesley Baty, a senior at Peshtigo High School, set the tone by scoring four goals and assisting on two others, the Thunder showed off some young talent with four freshmen scoring their first high school goals and two goalies recording their first high school victories.

“We have a young team, and I thought that those young players stepped up where they needed to,” first year head coach Kyle Lucas said. “Our veterans stepped up as well. They grinded the entire time, never let off the gas.”

Connor Radtke started the scoring in game one, taking advantage of a 5-on-3 situation with assists from Baty and Owen Haley.

Carter Edrman, a freshman at St. Thomas Aquinas Academy, followed with his first career goal to make it 2-0.

Marquette scored a pair of goals late in the first to reach the first intermission tied 2-2.

Baty, Cael Schmidt (a freshman at Peshtigo) and Erdman all scored in the second period, and the Thunder led 5-4 heading to the third.

After Marquette tied the game early in the third, Marinette senior Jack Raygo scored a shorthanded goal and Baty followed with an exclamation point off an assist from Menominee sophomore Brayden Forgette.

Sam McKenney, a freshman from Menominee High School, worked the net in game one, making 24 saves against 29 shots to pick up his first career win.

Game two featured more offensive fireworks.

Baty and Erdman started the onslaught before Calvin Schroeder, another freshman from STAA, got on the board, and the Thunder kept pace with Marquette 3-3 at the first intermission.

After successfully stifling five penalties in game one, the Thunder penalty kill struggled in game two. Marquette found the net four times on five Thunder penalties, including four in the second period.

Goals from Erdman, Bryce Vincent and Baty kept the Thunder in the game, but Marquette took a 7-6 lead into the third period.

“There was a little bit of turmoil in the second period in the second game,” Lucas said, “But they ended up shutting it down and playing their hearts out, and they grinded for that win. I’m very proud of them. It was touch-and-go on the chemistry, but they talked with each other and they worked through it. This team is becoming a family, and they’re proving it.”

Marquette took a two-goal advantage early in the third before Raygo poured in back-to-back goals to tie the game at 8-8 with 10:39 to play.

With 9:39 remaining Owen Shaffer, a freshman from Goodman, Michigan, gave the Thunder a 9-8 lead with an assist from Vincent.

Madisen Salewsky, a freshman from Marinette, made the lead stand up as she recorded 39 saves against the 47 shots she faced.

Baty and Erdman each had four goals on the day while Raygo finished with three. Baty added two assists, and Erdman notched one helper.

Vincent, Shaffer and Schroeder had a goal and an assist each. Haley and Forgette each had two assists, and Lucien Thayer and Simon King each had one assist.

“The expectation doesn’t ever lower, so I expect more each and every week,” Lucas said. “I can only see it building from here. The competition’s not going to get lighter, so these guys will keep stepping up. I am very proud of each and every one of them.”

Up nextThe Thunder will play in Beloit’s Rumble on the Rock tournament Nov. 20-22.