December 27, 2017 at 12:44 p.m.
Holiday happenings
Several RHS teams in action between Christmas and New Year's
Holiday happenings
Three RHS sports teams are taking advantage of the winter break to take part in holiday tournaments, with the Rhinelander/Antigo girls' hockey team hosting the annual Hodagland Tournament at the Rhinelander Ice Arena, the RHS girls' basketball team traveling to Wisconsin Rapids for a two-day event and the RHS wrestling team heading to River Falls for the Northern Badger Classic.
The RHS boys' basketball team will also be in action, hosting Waupaca tomorrow night in a one-off non-conference game.
Here's a closer look at this week's holiday events.
Girls' hockey home for Hodagland
The Rhinelander/Antigo girls' hockey team opens its annual Hodagland Hockey Tournament this evening as it takes on the Stoughton co-op at the RIA.
The Northern Edge will face Stoughton, Viroqua and Medford in the three-day round robin tournament and has a renewed appreciation for the event, especially after being unable to compete in its home invite last year during the height of a pertussis outbreak.
"It was cool last year being able to (host), even though we couldn't play. It's going to be more exciting this year knowing that we get to participate," Edge coach Kevin Sandstrom said. "It's something that we mark on our schedule literally from Day 1 and talk about the kind of work and effort that going into making this successful."
The Edge has already played two of the opponents in the tournament this season, losing to Viroqua 4-0 back on Dec. 1 in a tournament in Kettle Moraine and beating Medford Dec. 12 in a Great Northern Conference in Medford.
Rhinelander/Antigo has not seen the Stoughton Icebergs yet, but beat them last season on the road - their only victory against a team other than Medford. The Icebergs are improved this year, however, and nearly forced overtime on the road against Wisconsin Valley Union Dec. 2 before falling 2-1 on a late third-period goal.
"I think we have a pretty good chance of coming out on top if we play to our ability," Sandstrom said.
The Edge will take on Stoughton at 6:30 p.m. tonight, will skate against Viroqua at 10 a.m. Friday and will round out the tournament against Medford at 11 a.m. Saturday. Additionally, the four teams will take part in a skills competition between Friday's games.
Hodag Hoops stays home
The Rhinelander High School boys' basketball team takes on Waupaca tomorrow night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium, but there's a chance the Comets will not be the most difficult team the Hodags face during the holiday break.
As has traditionally been the case, a number of RHS basketball alums are back in town for the holidays and some of them have been practicing against the Hodag varsity this week.
Coach Derek Lemmens, an RHS alum himself, says the former Hodags provide for a top-notch scout team.
"We have a team that we can have do a wide variety of things," he said, adding that having the alumni back shows the deep connection the players have with the program. "We can ask them to play different without having to worry about creating bad habits, where you wouldn't want your team to be doing things very different from the way we do them. We can really give ourselves a wide variety of approaches."
Waupaca, which was 3-3 on the season following last Friday's 82-53 loss to Mosinee, is a non-conference opponent, but could be an important one in terms of regional seeding.
"For seeding, this is really a crucial game, and we have to make sure that we were focused and protect our home court because otherwise this can have some implications at the end of February," Lemmens said.
Tipoff is at 7:30 tomorrow night at the Miazga Gym.
Lady Hodags to be tested in Rapids
The RHS girls' basketball team heads to Wisconsin Rapids today and tomorrow for a two-day invitational and will prepare to face a couple of strong opponents in Madison La Follette (4-3, 3-3 Big Eight) and an improved Wisconsin Rapids squad (2-5, 2-1 Wisconsin Valley).
The Hodags come in off a 91-61 loss to Wausau West last Thursday to start what coach Ryan Clark said is arguably the most difficult three-game stretch of the Hodags' season.
"I think these three games are really the key to our season because all three are really tough matchups. But I think it will make us much better," he said. "Rapids just beat Marshfield last week. They're a nice basketball team and La Follette beat Verona, which is perennially a good team, by 18 or 20. I don't know if they'll be as good as West, but they'll have some good players."
The Hodags take on La Follette this afternoon at 3 p.m. and then will face Wisconsin Rapids at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
Two of Rhinelander's three losses so far this season have been to opponents outside the Great Northern Conference, but Clark said these games can help the team when it returns to conference play Jan. 2 against Tomahawk.
"It's great that we're playing these teams, but we've got to apply it to the conference then. It's good for us to just learn from it and move on from there," he said. "I think our girls are getting better and I like their mentality. They'll be just fine."
RHS wrestlers head back to Northern Badger
The Rhinelander High School wrestling team heads back to River Falls today to begin the two-day Northern Badger Classic.
There are several big holiday tournaments across the state, and the Northern Badger is right up there with some of the best. This year's 44-team field will feature eight teams ranked in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online rankings, and more than 100 ranked wrestlers across the WIAA's three divisions.
"It's a fun tournament," Hodag coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "The kids really enjoy going to it. River Falls really puts on a fun event. This year, there aren't as many strong Division 1 teams there. We'll have some good matches, but it won't anything compared to what they've already faced this year."
The Hodags couldn't make the trip over to River Falls last year because of the practice and competition ban put on Hodag teams during the height of the pertussis outbreak, which actually could have a lingering effect on this year's tournament.
"One of the major seeding criteria is how you did at last year's tournament," Ellenbecker said. "Between not going, and some of our records, it's going to be a tough go for some of our kids."
Rhinelander has traditionally fared well in the tournament, consistently placing inside the top 10 in the final team standings in a field that is made up of mostly Division 2 and 3 schools. Rhinelander is the only ranked Division 1 team in the field, receiving honorable mention in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling rankings, released Dec. 20.
There are two ranked Division 2 schools (Neillsville, Barron) and five ranked Division 3 schools (St. Croix Falls, Clear Lake, Boyceville, Spring Valley, Cumberland) in the field.
For as well as the Hodags have done in the tournament, they've had only one champion - Connor Johnson back in 2014. The Hodags will look to change that this year with four ranked wrestlers to their credit - Jacob DeMeyer (2nd, 152), Alec Kurtz (3rd, 195), Colton Krueger (10th, 220) and Reuben Guzik (HM, 120).
"We seem to get a lot of finalists here but never a lot of champions," Ellenbecker said. "This year, we hope to change that. Obviously, Jacob's got a shot. Kurtz is going to be tested by the kid from Boyceville (Garrett Joles), who's ranked No. 1 (in D3), is probably going to commit to Minnesota and is ranked nationally."
The preliminary rounds will take place today, with the wrestle backs and placement rounds wrapping up tomorrow.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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