December 28, 2018 at 1:47 p.m.
Northern Edge blanked in home tourney opener
Northern Edge blanked in home tourney opener
The Northern Edge was outshot 48-9 as it fell to the Lakeshore Lightning 4-0 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
The Lightning, a co-op of Cedarburg and several other suburban Milwaukee area schools, scored in every period and gradually pulled away from the Edge (2-4-0, 2-2-0-0 Great Northern).
Edge coach Tom Roeser said Lakeshore was simply the more aggressive team Thursday.
"We got outworked from the drop of the puck," he said. "We had a better third period, but we've got to really start recognizing (that) our work ethic dictates how these games go. They really do. They worked harder the third period and it really showed. We still got scored on, however, we didn't allow the quality shots and we had more opportunities down at their end."
Alicia Turunen had a busy night in the Northern Edge net. The junior netminder from Antigo recorded 44 saves in defeat as she faced at least 13 shots in each period.
"It could have been worse. It we didn't have the goalie we have, it could have been a lot worse," Roeser said. "She works hard in the net. She skated at practice the other night. I love the way she works. Mentally, she's just a competitor and she doesn't like being outworked. We need that in more of our girls."
Early on it appeared the Edge would be able to skate with the Lightning. The Edge recorded the first two shots on goal in the contest, but only registered one more the entire first period while Lakeshore chucked 17 pucks at the Rhinelander/Antigo cage.
"After the first two shifts, I'm like, 'Ah, this is going to be a competitive game,'" Roeser said. "Then we stopped going after pucks. We kind of gave them the space they wanted. They didn't have to create much, we just gave it to them. Every time they touched they puck, we started skating backwards, letting them take the zone. We really need to challenge teams."
Lakeshore got on the board 6:43 into the first period as Kate Golden stole a puck and when from her own blue line all the way the the Northern Edge net and beat Turunen to make it 1-0. The Lightning doubled their lead just 1:48 into the second on a Stella Scott goal and seemingly put the game away as Caitlin Kennedy scored on a rebound to make it 3-0 with less than 32 seconds remaining in the second.
Amy Erpenbeck tacked on the fourth goal for Lakeshore, on a second-chance opportunity 12:49 into the third period.
There was not much rest for the Edge, which was right back on the ice to take on Marquette, Michigan's U19 junior girls' squad in day two of the tournament yesterday morning in a game that concluded after deadline.
"It's a short turnaround, but it is 6 o'clock. The have a little time to go out and enjoy themselves, but they need to eat right, get to bed and we need to come with more effort tomorrow," Roeser said Thursday after the Lakeshore game.
The Edge closes out the three-day tournament this afternoon against the Stoughton co-op, which opened the tournament Thursday afternoon with an 11-4 win over Medford.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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