The Flivvers (3-4-0) arrived in Bay City roughly an hour before puck drop on Friday night for a 5:30 start and then hit the ice for a 9 a.m. contest before returning to the Upper Peninsula.

Backed by a strong goaltending performance from sophomore Alex Hemgren, Kingsford carried a 2-0 lead into the final nine minutes of action Friday night before Tri Valley (4-2-0) was able to crack the scoreboard. The Thunder dominated the final few minutes of play and had the Flivvers on their heels, but Hemgren stood tall and preserved the victory.

“That’s a good win for us. I didn’t like the last five minutes of the third, but overall I thought we played a pretty good game,” Flivvers head coach Greg Wadge said. “Alex was outstanding between the pipes, played a great game for us.”

Hemgren stopped 41 shots in the win. The Flivvers had 33 shots, scoring late in the first period on a power play when junior Jack Spreen found the back of the net with assists from senior captain Will Murvich and junior defenseman Seth Greenleaf for the 1-0 advantage. The goal was Spreen’s third of the season.

Kingsford junior forward Jack Spreen celebrates his goal Friday night against Tri Valley.

“We changed up our power play breakout, which worked on that goal actually,” Wadge said. “They executed it pretty well. It looked good. Way better than when we played at DePere.”

Murvich added a second-period tally, his second of the season, with an assist from sophomore Paolo Lenzi with 1:43 to go in the frame.

Patrick Dwan scored for the Thunder at the 8:45 of the third.

Unfortunately for Kingsford, it was a different story Saturday morning against Midland (1-7-0), as the team had no answer for sophomore Tucker Spaulding who scored four times for the previously winless Chemics.

Spaulding got one past senior goalie Nate Scullon barely two minutes into the game, and while Kingsford evened things up before the period ended when junior Jonah Doenier buried a wrister for his second of the season with crisp passing from Greenleaf and sophomore Trinton Paynter, Spaulding erupted for three goals in the second period.

Kingsford cut the lead to two in the third with Murvich connecting for his third of the season with assists from Spreen and senior Jake Deuter, but the Chemics answered 36 seconds later with a goal from Rusty Boyle to restore their three-goal advantage.

“Four goals by number 17. We were just backing up watching him,” Wadge said. “We have to take away time and space from him. Goaltending and defensively we were not very good in this one.”

Kingsford held a 31-25 edge in total shots.

“I didn’t think our energy level was great right out of the gate,” Wadge said. “We didn’t quit, though. We had five or six golden scoring opportunities and just couldn’t put the puck in the net, and we had some good puck movement, like the two passes before the first goal were fantastic and Jonah buried it.”

Kingsford hosts Antigo Friday night at 5:30 and then Fenton on Saturday at noon for the annual Teddy Bear toss game.