April 15, 2019 at 3:37 p.m.
Merger nearly complete
With WIAA vote on tap, Northern Edge, Lakeland ready to take next steps in girls' hockey co-op
Merger nearly complete
The WIAA Board of Control is set to approve winter co-op applications for the 2019-20 school year at its monthly meeting in Stevens Point. Among the co-ops up for consideration is a merger of the Northern Edge co-op with the Lakeland/Tomahawk co-op, with Wabeno being added to the mix as well.
"All and all, it's great to have this done, but it was a lot of work to make sure everyone is on the same page and that this thing is going to run smooth," Rhinelander High School activities director Brian Paulson said on April 1, after getting all the schools involved on board with the plan and submitting the official application to the WIAA.
The new arrangement would include seven Northwoods area schools, with Rhinelander being the centrally-located hub. Other schools would include Antigo, Lakeland, Mercer, Three Lakes, Tomahawk and Wabeno. The combined enrollment of the co-op would be 2,964 students, which still pales in comparison to some co-ops in metropolitan areas in the southern portion of the state. Defending state champion Fox Cities Stars, for example, is a 16-school conglomerate with a combined enrollment of more than 16,000 students.
At least in year one of the new arrangement, the three main contributors to the new-look Northern Edge would be Antigo, Lakeland and Rhinelander. Mercer, Tomahawk and Three Lakes did not supply skaters to their respective co-ops last year and Wabeno is expected to supply one skater next year.
All told, with both the Northern Edge and Lakeland co-ops projected to be low on numbers next year, a merger would put the program on solid ground, numbers-wise for at least the next few seasons.
"It's going to be really nice adding some numbers to this team and getting some competition going for positions," said Northern Edge coach Tom Roeser, who would retain the title of head coach under the new cooperative arrangement.
Roeser said next year's squad would be projected to have 21 skaters, up from the 13 the Edge had this year. Injuries whittled the number of healthy players for the Edge down to as few as eight during points of last season.
"We're in a much better position than we were in last year, so I'm happy," Roeser said.
The next steps
The proposed merger has cleared several hurdles on its way to the brink of becoming reality. The Edge approached Lakeland about joining its co-op prior to the 2018-19 season, but was turned down as Lakeland was on solid ground, numbers-wise, for the campaign.
Talks between the programs rekindled during this season with Lakeland graduating a large senior class that made up roughly a third of the team's roster. Once parents, coaches and activities directors were on board, it was a matter of presenting to plan to each school's board of education, where the plan eventually received the OK.
"I did a little speaking in front of the Rhinelander school board and I've been talking to Lakeland's coaches and a couple of Lakeland's parents," Roeser said, nothing that he let Paulson do most of the talking on the Northern Edge's behalf. "Other than that, I think the ADs did a great job getting together and hashing this thing out."
Logistically, it made sense for Rhinelander to be the lead school in the co-op, with its central location between Lakeland and Antigo. The team will practice up to four days a week at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. The team not able to secure ice time at the RIA on Mondays and may split time between the Lakeland Hawks Ice Arena in Minocqua and the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building in Antigo on those days, if it's not playing games. Home games will be split equally between Rhinelander, Lakeland and Antigo.
With those details ironed out, Paulson said he's now hard at work setting a schedule for the upcoming season. The merger of the Lakeland and Northern Edge co-ops caused the Great Northern Conference for girls' hockey to dissolve, with only three remaining programs in the conference. GNC schools played each other three times per year over the last two seasons. Depending on how many games the Edge agrees to play with Medford and Northland Pines, that could be as many as nine games the team will need to replace.
"We're not sure the other opponents that were in our conference, how many times they want to play us," Paulson said. "A lot of other schools have already had a head start on this, so it's like, 'Hey, let's get on this and get moving.'"
Either way, the Edge will be faced with long road trips when it hits the road this year. Northland Pines and Medford are two of the three programs in closest proximity to Rhinelander. The Wausau-based Central Wisconsin Storm and the Wisconsin Valley Union - which splits home games between Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point and Waupaca - are the next closest squads.
A coaching staff will also need to be assembled, with Rhinelander, Lakeland and Antigo each providing one paid coach to the program. That staff has yet to be finalized.
"I'm just looking for a good supporting cast from the other teams," Roeser said, adding that he likes the physical style of hockey Lakeland played. "Another opinion is always helpful. I'm not the way that I need all the power. I need other people to help me figure things out."
Also to be determined is what sort of off-season contact the team will have. In the past, the Northern Edge has reserved ice time during the two-to-three week summer ice session at the RIA.
"This summer, I think, could be a great time for us to get acquainted so there isn't such a learning curve at the start of the season, learning different personalities and getting everyone familiar with everybody so we know what to expect going into the season a little more," Roeser said.
Logistically, Paulson said the team's moniker and uniform will not change going forward. He believes the team has enough uniforms in storage to accommodate the extra skaters coming in from the Lakeland program.
Merging the squads
By bringing Lakeland into the fold, the Northern Edge welcomes a team that was one of its closet rivals over the past several seasons.
Paulson said he does not see this as a major concern, considering how natural rivals in several sports, Rhinelander and Antigo joined forces 10 years ago.
"I just really believe that it's going to be like Antigo and Rhinelander," he said. "Everybody's going to get along and going to try for one common goal and try to do the best they can."
Having some family ties should help new teammates bridge the gap. Northern Edge senior-to-be defender Madi Losch and Lakeland junior-to-be forward Isabelle Boyer are cousins.
"That's going to help a lot and I'm expecting both of them to be leaders," Roeser said. "I'm not sure if there's any dynamic between Lakeland girls and Rhinelander girls other than maybe past rivalries, but I'm going to look to them to lead and bring everyone together."
Another issue Roeser said will be addressed early on is player conduct. This past year Lakeland was barred from the WIAA playoffs after picking up three game-disqualification penalties during the course of the season. That gave Northern Edge a forfeit win over Lakeland and free pass to the sectional semifinal round of the WIAA tournament, where it was shutout by Wisconsin Valley Union, 4-0.
Lakeland team captain Asucena Boyer, who received one of the team's three game disqualification penalties, and coach Steve Bucklew apologized to the Lakeland school board last month for the team's actions before the Lakeland board OKed the co-op proposal.
Roeser said he will be proactive to make sure a situation like what happened to Lakeland this past season does not repeat itself.
"Obviously, there were some issues last year we really want to nip in the bud because we really don't want to put ourselves in bad positions," he said. "It's just putting everyone on notice that we're not going to play that way. We are going to try to play physical - use our bodies to protect the puck - but any of the extra stuff is not going to be tolerated."
The state of girls' hockey
The original idea behind co-ops, when the WIAA first made co-ops permissible in 1982, the thought was to allow small schools to combine forces to form a team, when neither would have been able to on its own. It was also the hope that the programs would flourish, numbers would grow and the co-op teams would eventually disband and form their own standalone programs.
The direction girls' hockey has gone over the years flies in the face of that rationale.
With two more programs set to join forces, there would be 27 girls' hockey programs in the state next season, continuing a decline in participation that saw as many as 34 programs in the early 2010s.
Rhinelander's girls' hockey team, first established in 2006, was a standalone team. When Antigo joined in 2009 and the Northern Edge was created, Rhinelander's program was at a crossroads due to low numbers.
Fast forward 10 years and Rhinelander and Antigo are to a point where they can no longer sustain a team on their own. Lakeland, which established its high school girls' team shortly after Rhinelander, absorbed a Tomahawk program that was dying in numbers three years ago. Now, it no longer feels it can sustain its own program.
"I think the co-op's here and we're moving forward. We do not have an end plan to get out," Paulson said.
Four years ago the Great Northern Conference, already seeing how larger co-ops in the south were beginning to take over the girls' hockey landscape, presented a playoff plan to the WIAA that essentially created four mini-divisions for the WIAA state tournament, arranging each sectional based on enrollment. The plan never gained traction.
"Let's be honest, we we're struggling to be competitive against some of these big horse teams," Paulson said. "It limits our schedule if we can't play them. It also limits our schedule if we don't have the numbers to play tournaments, and three games back-to-back-to-back. I hear some of the concerns of the parents. We don't have the same opportunity other teams do."
Both Paulson and Roeser said they would love to see the trend reverse and participation numbers rebound. Thar are in agreement that the revolution must start at the youth level.
"We all really need to do a better job of recruiting - and not at the high school level, at the youth level," Roeser said. "We need more girls in youth hockey.
"Setting up more localized teams is going to be a good start. Maybe a lot of the girls don't want to play boys' hockey coming up through the youth level, which is understandable. I think maybe even forming a small co-op team of the Northwoods girls - which they used to have with the Aces (a youth co-op of Rhinelander, Lakeland and Eagle River skaters) - that's going to be a start. But we've actively got to get out and recruit, get into these schools."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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