December 15, 2017 at 2:36 p.m.
Turunen's 44 saves not enough for Edge against WVU
Turunen's 44 saves not enough for Edge against WVU
Turunen made 44 saves, but the Northern Edge fell 3-0 to Wisconsin Valley Union - a co-op of Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield, Waupaca and other central Wisconsin schools - Thursday at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Despite being outshot 47-12 in the contest, the Edge (2-6-1, 1-0-0-1 Great Northern) trailed by only one goal until late as Wisconsin Valley scored twice in the final 2:27 of the contest.
"I think it starts and finishes the conversation tonight in net," Rhinelander/Antigo coach Kevin Sandstrom said. "We talked about limiting the high quality chances in front of her and we did that, but the main person that helped limit those was Alicia Turunen tonight. Her ability to control her rebounds - to put them in a corner or out of play or to send them in a direction the play wasn't moving - I imagine they haven't seen a goaltender like that. It kind of stinks that they banged two in the last couple minutes to throw off the percentage a little bit, but what an outstanding effort."
Waupaca's Markie Ash scored twice, including a point-blank chance at the 13:34 mark of the first that gave Wisconsin Valley a 1-0 lead it enjoyed for much of the contest.
"Their goal came from a mistake. We talked before the game there's one person to keep your eye on and she put one home in that first period," Sandstrom said.
The Edge, with only 11 skaters and Turunen active for the contest, more than held their own in the second period against a much deeper Wisconsin Valley Union squad. Shots were 10-9 in favor of Wisconsin Valley in a scoreless second period.
"We had to come out in the second and prove something, that a co-op here in Rhinelander and Antigo can play with a co-op like that regardless of the size, regardless of the numbers," Sandstrom said. "It comes down to heart, hustle and effort, and tonight an outstanding performance in net, and we can play with anybody."
The lack of depth eventually caught up with the Edge, however, as it was outshot 24-1 in the third. Leah Gruen scored off a rebound at the 14:33 mark and Ash scored once more with 16 seconds remaining.
Sandstrom said the team made an adjustment to create more offensive chances in the second by moving defender Jade Forster up to forward, but that move may have come at the expense of the team's thin defensive corp with Madi Losch and Ellen Padgett logging virtually all of the blue line minutes in the period.
"We ran two (defenders) until one of them needed a break and we were able to move Payton Bunnell or Gwen Frederickson or Jade back there," Sandstorm said. "It nice to have those players that can play both ways, but it's never ideal what we ended up doing there as far as numbers and opportunities for other players to hit the ice.
"Using Madi and Ellen defensively all second period definitely wore on them into the third."
The Edge will need to regroup quickly as it hosts Arrowhead tonight at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
"There's a dead drained team in that locker room right now but it's not a defeated team," Sandstrom said. "We could see some positives, see some negatives and be ready to move forward, have a hard day of practice tomorrow and get ready for Saturday's game."
Faceoff is set for 6 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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