January 22, 2018 at 12:37 p.m.
Hockey: Hodags snap 7-game skid, win East/Merrill tourney
Hockey: Hodags snap 7-game skid, win East/Merrill tourney
Those days are over now and just in time for a late-season surge, the Hodags hope.
Rhinelander finally got back in the win column over the weekend, defeating Medford and East/Merrill in successive days to take the title of the East/Merrill tournament at the Smith Center.
The Hodags didn't just win, they dominated both games - outshooting Medford 51-8 Friday night in a 5-0 win and scoring five unanswered goals in a 5-1 victory over the hosting Bluejacks on Saturday.
"We had a little team building night Thursday at my house and we talked about making this weekend the launchpad into the last third of the season. I'm just super proud of the kids," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "Adversity is everything. It spawns leadership. It spawns hard work. True development and true improvement happens when you're in adversity and we did that. We handled adversity exactly how we should handle it and I'm very proud of the guys. Credit goes to them."
The Hodags were riding high following a 7-0-0 start, but then dropped seven in a row during arguably the most difficult portion of its schedule. Rhinelander rebounded over the weekend against two teams that have won a combined three games so far this year.
"Our work ethic in practice has been very consistent and good and it showed up this weekend against teams we really wanted to beat. You want to win all games, but we really expected to do well," Laggis said.
Hodags 5, Medford 0
Despite dominating the shot tally, the Hodags didn't pull away until the third period Friday night in a 5-0 win over the Raiders.
The Hodags scored to go ahead 3-0 with just over 10 minutes to play and finally sealed it with a pair of goals 12 seconds apart in the final two minutes.
"We had a lot of opportunities where we didn't score and that's kind of disheartening there after a while. They started falling in the third, which was a good thing," Laggis said. "We battled through that, kept getting opportunities and, true to form, when you get a lot of shots on a team sometimes the effects happen later on and it did and we put pucks home."
Five different players scored in the contest, beginning with Freddy Wisner's unassisted tally 11:45 into the first. Matthias Schneider scored off an assist from Wisner at the 14:49 mark to give the Hodags a 2-0 lead after the opening period.
After generating only eight shots in the second period, the Hodags came back strong in the third. Brandon Kolasa scored off an assist from Schneider at the 6:43 mark. Then Abe Laggis and Conor Pequet scored at 15:03 and 15:15.
"We came out last night and we did what we had to do," M.J. Laggis said. "We took it to them. We had a rough second period, but a good first and a good third."
The game was a non-conference contest between the Great Northern Conference rivals. Rhinelander defeated Medford 4-1 at the Simek Center back on Dec. 12. The teams will have their second conference meeting Thursday in Rhinelander.
Friday's game started at roughly 9 p.m. after a scheduling snafu caused the start of the preceding contest between L'Anse, Mich. and East/Merrill to start nearly an hour late.
Hodags 5, East/Merrill 1
Some of the adversity Rhinelander faced during its seven-game slide came back Saturday, albeit in a much smaller dosage. The Hodags had no problem rising above the strife and defeating the Bluejacks.
East/Merrill got on the board first, seconds after a Rhinelander penalty expired in the first period, as Christian Mattson put home a rebound off a James Pawlicki shot at the 14:49 mark. Abe Laggis answered 1:02 later off a pass in front of the net by Bridger Flory.
"When we got scored on there was no panic, that's one thing. The second thing was the energy was there, we answered and we came back," M.J. Laggis said.
Then, in the second period with the Hodags ahead 3-0, Abe Laggis appeared to score his second goal of the day, but it was disallowed when the referee trailing the play claimed the goal came off its moorings before the puck crossed the goal line.
"We had a goal called off there, and it was clearly a goal in my opinion. Again, instead of pouting or hanging our head, we kept working," M.J. Laggis said.
Both of Rhinelander's second-period goals came in similar fashion. Abe Laggis sent a pass from behind the end line to Wisner at the top of the crease for a finish 1:23 into the second. Harlan Wojtusik finished a similar pass by Pequet at the 8:34 mark.
Rhinelander tacked on two more in the third. Bridger Flory scored on a wrister from the point at the 4:39 mark and Laggis finished a drop pass from Wisner at 7:51.
"I thought we outworked them up and down the ice all day long," M.J. Laggis said. "That was an indicator of our effort level all weekend long and how we approached the weekend."
Rhinelander outshot East/Merrill 27-11 and held the Bluejacks without a shot on goal in the second period.
Zuiker returns
The Hodags' defensive unit received a major shot in the arm with the return of sophomore Danny Zuiker, who was playing well before sustaining a shoulder injury Dec. 14 in a win over Tomahawk.
Coincidentally or not, Rhinelander's seven-game losing streak coincided with the seven games that Zuiker missed. M.J. Laggis called Zuiker's return to the lineup "huge."
"I never make excuses, but goldarn it, with him not in the lineup we just don't move the puck as well," he said. "We don't have the same ability to use Matthias Schneider and Sam Tjugum the way we want to. Danny just opens things up, handles the puck and moves his feet. We were in the toughest stretch of the season without him. That was difficult."
What's next
The Hodags, were scheduled to play Monday night at Pacelli. After that is Thursday's home contest against the Raiders.
Back on track with six games remaining in the regular season, the Hodags are trying to position themselves for a home game when the WIAA tournament commences Feb. 13.
"We want a playoff game in our building and we're going to work as hard as we can to earn one," Laggis said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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