December 21, 2018 at 12:59 p.m.
Pacelli upends Hodags 4-2
Pacelli upends Hodags 4-2
The Cardinals, with a roster of only 10 players, scored three unanswered goals in the third period to stun the Hodags 4-2 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Carter Snyder scored twice for Pacelli (4-1-0 independent), including the game-winner off a turnover at the 7:59 mark of the third period, to send Rhinelander (6-3-0, 3-1-0-0 Great Northern) to its second loss in three games.
"Nine guys and a goalie absolutely outworked our whole team, no doubt about it," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "We're trying to run three lines and go uptempo, trying to stretch the ice and doing all the things you want to do when a team is short-handed, but they wanted it more in our rink, and that's what's most concerning. They just outplayed us. They were stronger on the puck. They went to the corners harder and they played better in front of our net."
The Hodags led 2-1 after two periods but any notion that they would control the third against a much shorter Pacelli bench was quickly dispelled when Richard Zupan tied the game 55 seconds into the final stanza. Later, Snyder created a turnover at the Hodag blue line and beat goalie Seth Stafford to make it 3-2 Pacelli. Zach Clark tacked on an empty netter with 35 seconds remaining.
"Very disappointing on a lot of levels, huge seeding loss. That will have huge implication for us at the end," Laggis said.
The Hodags outshot Pacelli 11-4 in the first, but found themselves down 1-0 after Snyder created a turnover at his own blue line and skated around two Hodag defenders before stuffing a shot past Stafford on his own rebound.
Rhinelander appeared to re-establish momentum in the second period. Defenseman Alex Hedberg tied the game at the 5:59 mark, scoring on an awkward angle from the left corner. Harlan Wojtusik then scored his sixth goal in four games, and seventh overall, with a power-play tally at the 7:47 mark to give Rhinelander a 2-1 lead.
"Nice power play goal, Harlan buried a nice pass there," coach Laggis said. "Alex Hedberg, from a crazy angle put it on net and that was a good thing. I was good to see him score, big time."
Unfortunately for Rhinelander, the highlights were too few and far between. The Hodags narrowly outshot the Cardinals 29-28 for the game, but struggled much of the night in all three areas of the ice.
"At some point you've got to show up and be ready to go and we just didn't execute in any area of the rink tonight. Pacelli sat back with the puck, pulled it back and tried to stretch the ice out and we just played passively into it, instead of forechecking hard," Laggis said. "When we did have pressure, it was one guy with the second guy watching and the third guy not forechecking either. We're giving up not good goals and we're not playing good team defense. That's an awful loss. We got outworked in our own building and there's just not a lot more you can say."
Stafford made 24 saves in defeat for the Hodags while Abe Laggis picked up his team-leading 13th assist, recording a helper on Wojtusik's power play goal.
The Hodags had little time to lick their wounds as Waupaca came to the RIA last night for a pivotal GNC matchup that concluded after deadline. Rhinelander is back in action this coming Friday as it hosts Baraboo to kickoff a four-team holiday tournament.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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