Manistique junior Guillermo Beltran (left) and Escanaba junior Keegan Braun track the puck on Dec. 17, 2024 at Little Bear West Arena in Manistique. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

MANISTIQUE — A hat trick from junior Nolan Bink led Escanaba hockey to a 9-1 victory over Manistique here Tuesday.

“We knew we needed to come out hot,” Bink said. “We didn’t want to give them a chance to hang around in the game.”

Bink’s first goal came with 12:06 to go in the first period as he found the back of the net on an unassisted goal. Bink found his way back to the scoring column with 9:13 to go in the first as the puck found the back of the net with assists from Graham Johnson and Owen Labonte and the Eskymos led 3-0.

Bink capped off the hat trick with 4:17 to play in the second period on an unassisted goal to give the Eskymos an 8-0 lead.

“This win gives us a lot of confidence going into the break,” Bink said. “We got a couple of tough downstate games so we need to keep practicing and working on our game.”

Junior Graham Johnson added two goals on the night with three assists. The first goal for Johnson came with 9:30 to go in the second period off assists by Griffin Johnson and Brody Levesque to give the Eskymos a 5-0 lead at that time. Moments later Carson Hughes and Bink each earned an assist as Graham Johnson scored his second goal of the game.

“We are all working hard every night,” Graham Johnson said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Manistique likes to be physical and we knew we had to get pucks deep and battle and we did a good job of that.”

Cale Carter, Carson Hughes, Ben Sands and Labonte had one goal each to round-out the Eskymos’ scoring.

“It was good to get our third and fourth lines into the game,” Eskymos coach Andy Johnson said. “Nolan has been playing with a lot of confidence all season. He works hard and sees the ice well.”

The Eskymos group of juniors continue to get better and grow as players.

“This group is gaining confidence every time out,” Andy Johnson said. “It’s fun to watch them grow. I’ve seen most of the guys play since they were little kids and you can see the time and work they put in.”

The Eskymos return to the ice after Christmas as they travel to Alpena for a weekend showcase on Dec. 27-28.