March 30, 2015 at 1:14 p.m.
Rhinelander hosts annual Blue Line Club Buzzsaw Cup
Rhinelander hosts annual Blue Line Club Buzzsaw Cup
The Rhinelander team finished 2-2. They dropped Friday night's game against Green Bay 11-1, but rebounded Saturday against Wausau 8-2. Later that day, they beat Tomahawk 5-3, but lost their final game to Madison on Sunday 9-4.
Tom Roeser, president of the Blue Line Club, said it's an event many of the competitors look forward to all year.
"Most of our team is made up of alumni and guys we've met from playing over the years," he said. "It's a fundraiser for both the boys' and girls' hockey teams. It's getting together with other hockey guys. It helps the downtown businesses and hotels too. It's the one time a year around Rhinelander that a bunch of hockey guys get together."
Rhinelander High School hockey alumnus Mike Novotny said his favorite part of the tournament is reuniting with some of the guys who helped teach him the game growing up.
"It's fun to come back and see all the guys that you don't get to see other than this time of year," he said. "A bunch of the guys I play with were coaches that coached me while I was growing up, so it's a lot of fun to come back and play with them now. It's a good time every year and something to look forward to."
While Rhinelander managed to finish 2-2, they were hardly competitive in both their losses. Roeser said it was simply a matter of a talent gap.
"Green Bay brought a really good team with a lot of good ex-Deacon players," he said. "Madison is always tough. They don't bring a ton of guys, but they're always fast and they've played quite a bit of hockey together."
Novotny thought they could have played better than they did, but he agreed some of the other teams held an advantage due mostly to extended preparation.
"We didn't play great," he said. "We got blown out in our first one pretty good. We were just short-benched. A couple of the teams brought some pretty good talent. They skate together for 12 months out of the year, and we get together for this and one other tournament a few weeks before it. We don't get as much ice time together as some of these other teams and that makes a difference. For what we had, I thought we did pretty well, and it's a great time no matter what."
There were standouts for the Rhinelander squad though, and Roeser said the best performance came from the guy who had to deal with the constant onslaught of shots provided by the likes of Green Bay and Madison.
"Our goalie Brett Adams faced a lot of shots and played really well for us," Roeser said. "His brother Kyle Adams plays with us and he always plays well. Other than that, we were pretty up and down all weekend."
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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