The Manistique Emeralds Varsity co-op put on a show for their hometown fans this past weekend. The Emeralds recognized parents of the players in a pregame ceremony before honoring their three seniors during the first intermission of the final home games this season at the Little Bear West Arena.
There was plenty to cheer about on the ice as well, with the Emeralds standing tall after a back-and-forth game against the Lakeshore Badgers to take the 2-1 victory.
A packed house brought the Emeralds plenty of energy, and Manistique didn’t back down against the bigger and stronger team. Making a strong statement early, the Emeralds rose to the occasion. They outshot their opponents for most of the night, capitalized on chances, and limited mistakes, staying neck and neck all night long.
Newberry’s Jarrett Zellar got the scoring going in the second period, breaking the scoreless tie with his 9th goal of the season. Zellar was set up by Manistique’s Joe Noble. It was Noble’s 8th assist on the season. Lakeshore responded with a game tying goal on a scrum in front of Emeralds goalie Jackson Goudreau, who was rock solid between the pipes all game long. Goudreau missed the early season loss to Lakeshore while recovering from an injury, and his return helped Manistique turn the tide. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in the victory. The celebration theme continued in the third period as birthday boy Kade Schroeder made the most of his big day, hammering home the go ahead and eventual game winner, his 3rd of the 2025-2026 campaign. Schroeder was assisted on the powerplay goal by Luke Benish and Levi Vruggink. For Benish, it was the first assist of the season and the versatile Vruggink’s third.
In an intense second period, the teams earned 8 combined penalties—though a major penalty was missed when the Badgers took out young defenseman Julian Suriano, who left the game with a likely season-ending arm injury. But the Emeralds kept their cool, staying poised to skate away with the win.
The Emeralds will head to Cheboygan Saturday for a matchup with the Chiefs before wrapping up their regular season February 10 at Kingsford. The MHSAA Regionals will take place the following week.
