February 14, 2018 at 1:51 p.m.
Pines downs Northern Edge 4-1 in regular season finale
Pines downs Northern Edge 4-1 in regular season finale
The Northern Edge scored first on Monday night, but Northland Pines rallied for four unanswered goals between the first and second periods as the Eagles skated to a 4-1 win at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building in Antigo.
The loss ended the Edge's regular season at 7-16-1 and cemented the team's position in third place in the final GNC standings. The Edge opens the WIAA tournament Friday night at third-seeded Fox Cities.
"We generated more offense than we did in the first two meetings, but not enough to win, not enough quality chances," Northern Edge coach Kevin Sandstrom said.
Senior Gracie Lenzner gave the Edge an early lift with a goal from the left faceoff circle only 2:43 into the contest. The play started as Nevaeh Forster stole the puck at the blue line and then won a battle for it in the corner, which she flipped to Lenzner for the one-timer.
"I'd say the first three minutes of the game was one of the best starts we've had all year. The energy was up," Sandstrom said. "The energy was real good."
Similar to a 3-2 loss to Lakeland/Tomahawk last Thursday, once the Edge took the lead, it was all downhill from there. The Eagles drew level at the 3:57 mark as Cameron Ramesh banged home a rebound off an Abby Ahlborn shot and Ahlborn gave the Eagles the lead as time expired in the first period in a contentious scrum in front of the Edge net.
"I don't think you can argue the fact that the horn sounded before the puck crossed the goal line," Sandstrom said, arguing that the goal should not have counted. "Unfortunately, there's no instant replay. We don't get the benefit of college or NHL-type rules. It was a judgement call. I wish they would confer before making that decision final. There was no conferment.
"It was extremely unfortunate. We had a hot start. They canceled it out. It was pretty even back and forth (the rest of the period), then they get that and they were ready for the second period. We weren't."
Gabby Herfindal extended Northland Pines' lead 6:38 into the second on a shot from between the circles and the Eagles cemented control with a short-handed goal by Allie Kieffer with 2:11 to play in the second.
Heading into the third, and looking for a spark, Sandstrom and the Edge coaching staff made a significant shake up, pulling Turunen - who's scored three goals in the two games she hasn't started this season at goalie - out of the cage in favor of Nevaeh Forster and moving leading scorer Madi Losch from defense to forward.
While the teams played the third period to a 0-0 draw, the Edge outshot the Eagles 11-7 in the period and had some of its best scoring chances of the game.
"We weren't generating any offense and we weren't doing much to keep the puck out of the net through two periods," Sandstrom said. "We decided to make a lot of changes between the second and third. We decided we were going to roll a lot of different things. (Turunen) had some awesome chances. I moved Madi up to forward and they worked well with whoever they were with - Payton, Kourtney, Gracie."
Forster saved all seven shots she faced in the third period, as the Edge was outshot 31-22 for the game. While not committing to any of the third-period changes going forward, Sandstrom said he hopes the energy from the final period carries over to Friday night's playoff game.
"The third period, we played like a team," he said. "It didn't matter who was next to us. It didn't matter who was in net. It didn't matter who was playing D. Everyone was just worried about what their job was and as long as they gave it their all, everyone else would too."
The Edge plays Fox Cities at 5:30 Friday night in Appleton. The Edge will be the underdog against a large conglomerate of schools from the Fox Cities region, but Sandstrom said the Edge is looking forward to the challenge.
"I think we're capable of doing (pulling off an upset)," he said. "I think it's going to take everything we have. I've seen it before in the playoffs ... I think that's why we play this sport, any given team can win on any given night. It's going to be very exciting heading into Friday's contest."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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