February 10, 2017 at 4:42 p.m.
Antigo blanks Hodags 6-0 in GNC finale
Antigo blanks Hodags 6-0 in GNC finale
The win clinched the GNC title for Antigo (17-6-0, 9-0-0-0 Great Northern) and guaranteed that Rhinelander (7-13-0, 3-10-0-0 Great Northern) will finish no better than seventh in the conference standings.
Simply put, Antigo was the better team Thursday night.
"We definitely played hard," RHS boys' hockey coach M.J. Laggis said. "Antigo is an extremely fast team. They move the puck really well. There's no screwing around. They have two options. They get the puck on their stick, they're moving their feet and they're either going to pass or they're going to shoot it - and they do both really well."
The Robins scored three times in the first, twice more in the second and once in the third. Rhinelander was outshot 39-12 in the contest, making a busy night for freshman goalie Seth Stafford, who turned aside 33 shots in the Hodag net.
"Seth Stafford faced a lot of shots and make a lot of really good saves tonight," Laggis said. "He had one he'd certain want back in the third period, but he made a lot of saves and he didn't have a lot of help in front of him. For a freshman, that's pretty good playing a team like that, that's possibly expected to end up at the state tournament again. He played well."
Adam Schmidt and Matt Winter each scored twice for Antigo. Their goals, 1 minute, 15 seconds apart in the first period, gave Antigo a 2-0 lead at the 11:47 mark. Tyler Husnick added a goal at the 14:04 mark to give the Robins a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
Winter and Schmidt added goals in the second and Andrew Turunen sent the game to running time with a goal 2:57 into the third. The majority of the goals came in close proximity to the Hodags' net, a byproduct of Antigo's puck-hawking attack.
"It wasn't that our coverage was completely out of whack," Laggis said. "They were just going to the net like absolute bees on a hive and they crashed it hard. They're finding the puck and they're fast and we kind of got a little running around-ish and kind of lost our way. When you do that, they're going to find the rebound right now, and they did."
Despite the loss, Laggis said there were a number of positives to take from playing the conference's best team.
"Sophomore Hunter Hicks played incredibly aggressive tonight and looked fast," he said. "I'm starting to see him playing they was we've worked on him playing. I thought he had a good game.
"I thought our defensive core battled hard as a group. We got outspeeded at times, there's no doubt about that but we battled hard. The other thing I would say is that line of Flory, Freddy Wisner and Cole Spaulding, I thought those three battled really hard tonight. They got beat, but they also learned a little bit about themselves and had some limited success with some good breakouts and getting the puck going up ice."
Though the Hodags generated only 12 shots on goal, Laggis said the team had a few opportunities to get on the scoreboard that didn't find their way home.
"I thought Dylan Roeser had a couple of quality chances tonight," he said. "One that if he would have put inside the pipe would have went for sure. Hunter Hicks had a great look in the third period and Freddy Wisner had two really great looks - one in the first and one in the second. You know, you'd like to see them bury those pucks. I'm not going to say that would change the outcome of the game, because it wouldn't of, but it would have got a little more confidence going."
The Hodags played Ashwaubenon Friday night in a game that concluded after deadline. Rhinelander finishes the regular season at home tonight against Chequamegon/Phillips and will open WIAA tournament play Tuesday night at Merrill.
River News freelancer Bob Mainhardt contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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