January 10, 2018 at 1:10 p.m.
Edge comeback bid falls short at Lakeland
Edge comeback bid falls short at Lakeland
The Northern Edge put a period and a half of good hockey together, and nearly erased a 3-0 deficit, but fell to Lakeland/Tomahawk 4-2 Monday in a Great Northern Conference contest in Minocqua.
The Edge got to within a goal on a Jade Forster power play goal with 4:49 remaining in regulation, but Lauren Godfrey scored her second goal of the night off a faceoff with 2:48 to play to snap Lakeland's four-game losing streak. The Edge has lost three of its last four overall.
"We were slow out of the gate. It's a 2-2 tie the rest of the way," Rhinelander/Antigo coach Kevin Sandstrom said. "It's a conference game. I love the way we fought back against the leading team in the conference. That's what we want to see. We want to see us fight back."
Needing a spark down 3-0 late in the second, the Northern Edge got a boost from senior Kourtney Carrico, who took the puck along the boards on a breakaway and fired a shot past Lakeland netminder Mariah Lear with 1:55 remaining in the period.
"I like the way they responded, especially that late (goal) by Kourt," Sandstrom said. "She made a great pass to herself along the boards. She was one-on-one. She's a player who should bury that puck and she did. Really nice goal, really nice play."
Forster took a shot from the middle of the slot that beat Lear top shelf to pull the Edge back within a goal less than a minute after Lakeland's Maggie Wohlleber was called for hooking.
The Edge, however, struggled winning faceoffs most of the night, a fact that burned them late in the contest. Facing a draw in the defensive zone, Edge senior Payton Bunnell lost a faceoff to Lakeland's Makayla Fultz, who sent the puck back to Godfrey for a one-timer that appeared to graze a Northern Edge defender before making its way past goalie Alicia Turunen.
"That fourth one was a little unfortunate late after we came all the way back," Sandstrom said. "They won a lot of faceoffs tonight. They dominated the dot. We've talked all week, it's not about center on center. It's about all five being immediately ready to go. It got better from the first to second to third, but you look at that fourth goal, that's an example right there."
The T-Birds dominated the opening 17 minutes of play, outshooting the Edge 17-2. Asucena Boyer, the cousin of Northern Edge defender Madi Losch, scored in a scrum in front of the net 6:48 into the contest. Lauren Godfrey added a power play goal five seconds after the Northern Edge's lone penalty of the night - a Jade Forster hooking call - later in the period.
Wohlleber made it 3-0 for the T-Birds 4:02 in the second. She was left alone at the bottom of the faceoff circle and buried a one-timer after the puck came free following a battle for it in the crease.
While Lakeland capitalized on a couple of loose pucks in front of the Northern Edge net, the Edge could not return the favor on the other end of the ice. Lear was caught out of position midway through the first, but ended up covering the puck in a mad scramble on the left side of the crease. The Edge also missed a couple of open chances in the third.
"We had a lot more scoring chances than the scoresheet would say. We put them wide. We put them into a foot. Same with (the scrambles in front of our net). You give them those third, fourth chances and it's going to end up in the back of the net," Sandstrom said.
Lakeland outshot Rhinelander/Antigo 41-11 in the contest. Turunen stopped 37 shots in defeat.
The Edge has picked up a non-conference game at Marquette, Mich. on Saturday where it will take on the sister team of the Marquette club squad took both ends of a doubleheader Nov. 25 in Antigo. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m., CST.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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