February 5, 2018 at 2:38 p.m.
Wisner's hat trick rallies Hodags past Waupaca
Wisner's hat trick rallies Hodags past Waupaca
Freddy Wisner recorded a hat trick for the Hodags, including the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period, as Rhinelander rallied past Waupaca 4-3 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
It wasn't easy for the Hodags. Sophomore forward Abe Laggis left the game late in the first period with a deep quad bruise after receiving an open-ice check. Defenseman Danny Zuiker limped to the bench after taking a puck to the ankle late in the second and Cole Spaulding was visibly ill at times on the Hodag bench.
Spaulding and Zuiker eventually returned to the game while Laggis did not. What's more, Waupaca's leading scorer, Jack Menzies, banged home a redirection 29 seconds into the third to give the Comets a 3-2 lead.
"We had a lot of issues, but we went down in the game and I'll tell you, at the end of the second, there was no doubt in my mind we were going to win the hockey game," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "There was just an unbelievable amount of fire in that locker room."
The game turned less than five minutes into the third when Waupaca's Davis Levine was whistled for a major boarding penalty on a high hit to Bridger Flory near the Waupaca blue line. The Hodags tied the game and took the lead while Levine served his five-minute penalty.
"I felt that the way their hands and sticks were up, eventually we were going to get a break. Thank goodness they finally called that (hit) on Bridger Flory," coach Laggis said. "My goodness, the kid was two hands up, driving his head into the glass. That could have been a game DQ real easy. Either way we got (the major penalty)."
The Hodags, who were skating a man down following an Alex Hedberg interference call, tied it 44 seconds after the Levine major as Cole Spaulding slipped a defender along the boards and carried the puck in the Waupaca zone, creating a 2-on-1 breakaway. He fed the pass to Wisner in the slot who beat Comet goalie Brett Berens to tie the game.
The Hodags took the lead less than three minutes later as Wisner got the puck in the slot from Flory following a good cycle of passes on the power play and buried a one-timer.
"On the bench we talked about getting to the top of the umbrella (power play formation), sliding to the side of the umbrella, walk to the weak side and dish to the back door. It worked beautifully," coach Laggis said. "Obviously, the big night for Freddy Wisner. Freddy was amazing with his shot tonight, but this was a team effort all the way. We won so many battles in neutral ice with second and third effort and showed a lot of resilience."
Rhinelander fended off the Comets late as Waupaca pulled Berens with roughly 50 seconds remaining, but failed to generate a quality scoring chance.
Wisner gave Rhinelander the lead 9:49 into the first, scoring on a rebound off assists credited to Conor Pequet and Brandon Kolasa, but Waupaca had all the momentum by period's end as Jack Erspamer scored a top-shelf goal on the power play at the 13:14 mark followed closely by Abe Laggis' injury.
Waupaca took the lead 3:13 into the second as Cody Rasmussen fired a shot from the slot that beat a screened Seth Stafford. Harlan Wojtusik answered at the 6:57 mark as now he and Wisner share the team lead with 13 goals scored on the season.
Rhinelander outshot Waupaca 33-26. Stafford turned aside 23 shots as the final score mirrored the result the Hodags put up when the teams played in Waupaca Dec. 3. The win did not help the Hodags' cause in playoff seeding, however, as they could not leapfrog Lakeland at Sunday's sectional seeding meeting. Rhinelander drew the No. 7 seed and will host Mosinee Tuesday, Feb. 13 in a regional semifinal at the RIA. It will be Rhinelander's first home playoff game since 2009.
However, the win moved Rhinelander back into a fourth-place tie with Lakeland in the GNC standings. Rhinelander can move into a third-place tie with Waupaca if it beats Mosinee at the RIA this Friday. Rhinelander (13-8-0, 7-5-0-0 Great Northern) is also one win away from matching its single-season wins record.
Those carrots are still major motivating factors as the Hodags enter the final week of the regular season.
"There's just a ton of energy in that locker room. These kids believe they're going to get the all-time wins record and I hope they do," Laggis said.
The Hodags travel to Marshfield Tuesday before hosting East/Merrill and Mosinee on back-to-back nights Thursday and Friday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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