(Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo) Kingsford senior Hunter Fortner (8) leads a rush up the ice with teammate David Juul (13) right behind him in the first period of the Flivvers’ home opener against Manistique on Thursday at the Mountain View Ice Arena in Iron Mountain. Fortner later scored off an assist from Jacob Crockford in the second period to lift Kingsford to a 1-0 victory.

IRON MOUNTAIN — Prospects for Thursday night’s matchup between Manistique and Kingsford were interesting even before the first puck was dropped.

The game featured Manistique, a co-op team comprised of Munising, Newberry as well as Manistique, against a young Kingsford Flivver squad, which features eight freshmen and seven sophomores.

All that separated the teams at the final horn was a shorthanded goal by senior Hunter Fortner, as the host Flivvers edged the Emeralds 1-0 at Mountain View Ice Arena in Iron Mountain.

Fortner received a pass from freshman teammate Jacob Crockford on a 2-on-1 breakout and slipped it by Manistique freshman goalie Alex Noble with 5:41 left in the second period for the game’s lone goal.

Kingsford sophomore goalie Isaiah Anderson made that marker stand up, slamming the door shut on 30 Emerald (0-1) shots to give the Flivvers (1-1) their first win of the season after Tuesday’s 3-1 setback at Escanaba.

“I thought it was a great hockey game,” Kingsford coach Greg Wadge said after his team’s victory. “I thought our guys played hard. I thought (our physicality) was good, too. I mean, we’ve got eight freshmen on the team and I thought they played hard and physical, and so did (Manistique).”

“I’m not disappointed about tonight at all,”said Manistique coach John Nutkins, whose team defeated Negaunee 4-2 in a scrimmage on Tuesday. “It was a fun game, too.”

Nutkins’ team had the better of play early on as the Flivvers had difficulty getting the puck out of their zone. But Kingsford picked up its physical play midway through the opening period which resulted in an edge in puck possession for the remainder of the first and throughout the second.

Nevertheless, the game stayed scoreless until Manistique failed to hold the puck in the offensive zone on the power play and Crockford and Fortner took advantage. It was Fortner’s first tally of the season and Crockford’s first assist after he scored the Flivvers’ only goal in the defeat at Escanaba.

From there, each team had some quality chances but the two goaltenders were impenetrable.

“Actually both goalies were good, but Isaiah played a great game,” Wadge said.

In two games, Anderson has stopped 59 of 62 shots, a .952 save percentage.

Nutkins said his players, while excited to begin high school play, are still in the growing stage.

“I really like our team and like what we can be, but we’re not there yet. We’re not even close. I thought we played very well in the third period and I think we’ll just get sharper as the season goes on.”

Neither team was able to take advantage of its power play opportunities. The Emeralds went 0 for 4 and gave up the shorty, while the Flivvers came up empty on five power plays, though one was only 10 seconds long after Kingsford was penalized itself.

Despite not scoring, Wadge said his team’s man-advantage execution was better than in its opener.

“We changed up the power play and the power play seemed to work a little better. I mean, we didn’t get a lot of (scoring) opportunities, but we did control the puck in the zone a lot better than we did against Esky, so I was happy about that.”

The teams both had breakaway chances midway through the third period but Noble stopped Kingsford freshman Gavin Moore’s attempt, while Anderson stoned Manistique’s Zach Burton.

The final two minutes got a bit dicey for the Flivvers. First, Anderson made a great save on a slap shot out front from Manistique’s Matthew Rahilly. Then after Manistique was whistled for a minor penalty just as the Emeralds were about to pull their goalie, the Flivvers took a penalty with 58.7 seconds remaining to open up a 5-on-4 advantage after Nutkins did pull his goalie.

The Emeralds held the puck in the offensive zone for about 30 seconds before Crockford was able to clear with 24 ticks remaining, in effect ending the game.

Afterward, Nutkins offered his take on the Flivvers.

“They’re very gritty team and they’ve practiced a lot more than us so I knew that they were going to be sharper than us,” he said. “They’re a young team and they played a really good game against us. I mean, they don’t back down. They beat us to a lot of loose pucks, they won a lot of battles.”