March 24, 2017 at 1:21 p.m.
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
Close calls define Hodags' 2016-17 season
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
The Hodags went 8-15-0 overall on the campaign and recorded three wins in Great Northern Conference play, despite not playing for nearly 3 1/2 weeks due to a pertussis outbreak that halted the season toward the end of December.
With a group of experienced defensemen and relatively young forwards, the Hodags went .500 over the final 12 games of the season, but came up short in an overtime loss to East/Merrill in the first round of the WIAA playoffs.
"I'm proud of the seniors for their attitude throughout Christmas when they had two weeks without ice," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said moments after the season-ending defeat. "I'm proud of their effort. Every time we had a bad setback or a loss the locker room pulled together even more. They've been a resilient group and I just so badly wish we had one more go at it."
Here are five things to know about the season.
Pertussis
Like every other Rhinelander High School sports team, the whooping cough outbreak pushed the pause button on the season just as the Hodag hockey squad was beginning to build momentum, but no other team faced quite the same scheduling crunch after the season resumed.
Between when the Hodags resumed play Jan. 7 and their Valentine's Day playoff loss at East/Merrill, the team played 17 games in a matter of only 39 days. That included two stretches when the Hodags play three games in as many nights.
"That's a grind," Laggis said, following an Feb. 11 win over Chequamegon/Phillips which ended a three-in-a-row stretch that also included games against Antigo and Ashwaubenon to end the regular season. "That's a lot of hockey."
Close only counts
Part of what helped the Hodags to an 8-13-1 record last season was their ability to thrive in close games.
Part of what kept the Hodags from winning more than eight games this year was the team's inability to capitalize in those same situations.
The Hodags were 4-5 this season in games decided by a goal or less, compared to 6-3-1 in those games in 2015-16. Rhinelander was 0-4 in overtime games this season, after going 4-1-1 a season ago.
Rhinelander lost 3-2 in Tomahawk Dec. 13 - the Hodags' last game before the pertussis break - on a goal moments into overtime. The team's first game back from the break was another 3-2 OT defeat, this time Jan. 7 at Green Bay United. The Hodags fell Feb. 2 at Lakeland 3-2 in overtime and the final score of the overtime playoff loss at East/Merrill was - you guessed it - 3-2.
"It's so brutal to lose a playoff game but when you're pouring your guts into it and you lose it in overtime, unless you're on that bench and on that ice, you really don't understand," Laggis said following the East/Merrill game. "You truly don't. When you're in the locker room with those kids and it's over, it's brutal. It's a punishing way. All you have after that is just time to think about it, to dwell on it, to wish it would have went differently, but it's over. That's a very difficult thing to face."
Rhinelander's other one-goal loss this season was another game that seemed destined for overtime. The Hodags lost 2-1 Dec. 6 at Mosinee when Zeth Pyan scored the game-winner with four seconds remaining in regulation.
Strong seniors
A strong senior class this season served as the foundation for the Hodags this season, led by team MVP Dylan Roeser, who scored 12 goals and added 12 assists on the season while bouncing between forward and defense. Overall, half of Rhinelander's top eight scorers this year were seniors, including Logan Wild (5g, 5a), Tyler Kolasa (3g, 3a) and Tyler Blomdahl (1g, 5a).
More important than the seniors' production on the ice, according to Laggis, was their leadership off of it.
"They set great examples, very good role models for our young players and I really appreciate that," he said during the team's banquet. "I've had many years when I have not had that leadership at all, and had seniors that were doing things they shouldn't be doing. I'm very appreciative of these guys."
Power outage
Overall the offensive production took a step back this season, with the team averaging roughly a half goal per game less than it did in 2015-16.
Part of the team's struggles finding the back of the next could be traced back to power plays, which they converted at a 14.4-percent clip this season, opposed to 17.3 percent a season ago.
Laggis noted the team's efforts to try throughout the season to improve its scoring with the man advantage. Toward the end of the season the team would spend time before home games in the newly-constructed training area inside the Rhinelander Ice Arena working on its power play passing combinations.
What's next
Though the Hodags are going suffer a blow with the graduation of the do-it-all Roeser, and several other seniors, the team has reason to be optimistic heading into next year.
For starters, the Hodags will have Seth Stafford back between the pipes after getting thrown into the fire in his freshman campaign. Stafford logged a 5-12-0 record in net for the Hodags this season with a 3.66 goals against average and a .859 save percentage.
"He's going to have a lot of good times here in this program. He's going to win a lot of games," Laggis said of Stafford back in January.
Brandon Kolasa, Cole Spaulding and Freddy Wisner will return, after combining to score 22 goals this season. Matthias Schneider will be the team's top returning defenseman and the team hopes to get a boost from Abe Laggis - M.J.'s son - a freshman who missed the entire 2016-17 season with a knee injury.
Additionally, the team will get a few players from the Rhinelander Ice Association's Bantam squad, which won the consolation championship of the WAHA 3A state tournament earlier this month.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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