February 13, 2017 at 3:17 p.m.
Northern Edge blanked in final two regular season games
Northern Edge blanked in final two regular season games
The Thunderbirds beat the Northern Edge 3-0 in the teams' first two meetings and on Friday the two teams squared off for a third time, this time at SARA Park in Tomahawk.
It was a big night for Lakeland/Tomahawk, as it donned the Hatchet blue and gold for the first time this season for senior night.
The night belonged to the T-Birds, however, as they earned the hat trick, defeating the Northern Edge 3-0 for the third time this season.
The Edge simply could not generate much offense in the game, managing just eight shots on goaltender Erin Sparks, who was playing in her final game at Tomahawk.
"I think it's the same thing we had all season against this team: score 3-0, shots in that 30-10 range," Northern Edge head coach Kevin Sandstrom said. "We needed a little bit of luck in order to come out on top in this game and clearly we didn't have that on our side."
While the Edge couldn't find its way offensively in the game, the team did play a strong defensive game.
Despite the shot disparity, Lakeland did not have a wealth of quality scoring opportunities.
Leading scorer Maggie Wohlleber created some of her own chances, but goaltender Shea Petersen was there to shut the door each time.
Petersen and the defenders in front of her kept the Edge in the game heading into the third, as the T-Birds managed just one goal in each period.
"We've been heavily outshot all year long," Sandstrom said." That's something we've kind of prepared for. We're going to allow them to shoot from the outside. We're going to contain middle, we're going to contain the center, we're not going to allow them high-quality chances. If you notice the brief, tiny moments we do allow high-quality chances, it's usually in our net. Any time that we did break down and allow a high-quality chance, Shea Petersen was there to stop them tonight."
Petersen stopped 30 of the 33 shots she faced between the pipes during the game.
Edge gets blanked by Appleton United in regular season finale
Rhinelander/Antigo didn't have much time to rest as it was back in action the following night (Feb. 11) with a trip to take on Appleton United at Appleton Family Ice Center.
The Northern Edge hung in the game for a while, skating to a scoreless tie at the end of the first period, but it took less than a half a minute for the complexion of the game to change.
Annika Horman scored six seconds into the second period and Hanna Hiltunen got another 21 seconds and the Edge of itself in a 2-0 hole just 27 seconds into the second period.
Appleton would score one more in the second and three more in the third to hand Northern Edge a 6-0 in its last regular season game.
"I'm incredibly proud of the effort we put out there to start this game," Sandstrom said. "We were outshot 22-2 in the first period. Both of our shots we real nice, quality scoring chances. We weren't able to get it past their goaltender and then we were pretty much under siege."
Down a number of players due to injury and illness, the Edge were outshot 49-6 for the game but managed to hang around for the first 17 minutes.
Yet, the team couldn't keep the momentum going in the first minute of the second period and the dam burst.
"Anytime you look at two goals in the first 27 seconds of a period, you're thinking that we did not come out ready to play that period and I think that's the case," Sandstrom said. "But I think we rebounded well and played a solid period after those two goals. It was just a barrage of shots that Shea had to face. They were bound to get a couple to go in."
A couple of the goals were unlucky bounces for Petersen, including one that rolled up her stick and one ricocheted off a stick and in.
In two nights, Petersen faced 82 shots total - she's averaged 42.5 shots per game this season - and managed to play to keep the team in the game at times.
"She's had an incredible season," Sandstrom said. "Without her in net, who knows what the final score of some of those games would have been. I think all year we've done a pretty good job of limiting high-quality chances. If you notice, when we do have a breakdown it usually ends up in the back of our net. That's how good of a goalie Shea is. That's how solid we are position-wise in our defensive zone. Teams really have to take advantage of the mistakes that we make because we're going to work our butts off."
Horman finished with a hat trick and an assist for Appleton.
Northern Edge (4-14-0, 2-6-0 Great Northern) is scheduled to take on Point/Rapids in the first round of the WIAA playoffs on Friday.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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