February 4, 2019 at 11:23 a.m.
Power played: Antigo parlays Hodag penalties into 5-1 win
Power played: Antigo parlays Hodag penalties into 5-1 win
Antigo scored all five of its goals on the power play - including three during a five-minute major in the third period - as it skated past Rhinelander 5-1 in the third-place game of the Great Northern Conference tournament at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose building.
Rhinelander and Antigo finished in a tie for third in the GNC, based on the Hodags placing ahead of the Red Robins in the regular season standings, but Saturday's finish left a bitter taste in the Hodags' mouths.
"We were in penalty trouble a lot today," coach M.J. Laggis said after his team was called for 10 infractions and spent 31 minutes in the penalty box. "Antigo was simple today. They were going to talk to us. They were going to get in our earhole and tell us about it and we reacted just horribly. I won't blame any one kid. I will just say, as a collective effort, that was a ridiculous, inexcusable amount of penalties. The officiating was what it was. If you were here, you saw it. I'll leave it at that, but just an inexcusable way to respond for our kids.
"We've got to get better than that. You can't win a big game against a physical, chippy team like that if you're doing that kind of stuff, and we did."
Rhinelander was down only 2-1 after two periods but things changed 2 minutes, 20 seconds into the third when Danny Zuiker was taken to the box for a hit in the corner. Initially, a two-minute minor was put up on the scoreboard but - after a conference - the officials decided to change the penalty to a five-minute major for head contact.
"It was definite head contact according to the people standing over there watching it," coach Laggis said. "It don't think it was worth a five at all. I think it was a two-minute roughing penalty, but that's what (the refs) were going to do. They were going to call everything."
Chris Krueger pumped in a shot from the point nine seconds later, Dylan Lewis added a goal 13 seconds after that and Isaac Wickersheim tacked on one more for good measure with 17 seconds remaining on the major.
More troubling is the fact that a Rhinelander penalty kill which had been a strength much of the season continues to struggle. The Hodags were killing penalties at a nearly 92-percent clip prior to its current three-game losing streak, where opposing teams have gone 9 for 16 on the man advantage.
"That was the game right there. That game was a power play win for them," coach Laggis said. "One thing we did do on the (penalty kill) today that we haven't done all year is we couldn't clear the puck. We kept throwing it into traffic. We had a chance on that 5-minute - or maybe it was the one before that, there were so many - were we could have cleared it. Instead we made a soft play up the boards, stickhandled it. They got the puck out to the point, shot it and scored. We're not helping out goalie out at all doing that sort of thing.
"It's been a very good penalty kill all year. Today it wasn't good kill."
Rhinelander struck first in the contest, on a Zuiker power play goal 6:23 into the contest, but Antigo tied the game on a power play tally by Frank Volpentesta at the 11:01 mark. The Robins took the lead on a Calvin Jansen power play goal 5:02 into the second period.
Rhinelander was outshot 14-3 in the third period and 31-19 overall in the contest. Seth Stafford made 26 saves in defeat for the Hodags, who have been outscored a combined 7-0 in the third period of their last two games.
The Hodags have little time to rebound, with their final regular season home game tonight against East/Merrill, followed by road trips to Lakeland and Kingsford, Mich. on Thursday and Saturday.
"It's going to take some soul searching and figuring out how we're going to get over the hump," M.J. Laggis said. "I'm not going through a game like that. I'll say we had zero help from the officials. I understand that, but we didn't handle it well ourselves and that's unacceptable."
All-conference teams announced
In conjunction with the inaugural Great Northern Conference tournament, the All-GNC boys hockey team was announced on the ice in Antigo following Saturday's game. The Hodags had only two players receive all-conference honors based on voting done by the conference coaches earlier in the afternoon - Abe Laggis was voted as a first-team forward and senior Sam Tjugum received honorable mention as a defenseman.
"I'm happy for both those guys," coach Laggis said. "I would have loved to have seen the seniors, like Freddy Wisner, get more mention, but I think people are confused by how all-conference (voting) works. You don't vote on your own players. Other coaches make that decision. That's just the way it is."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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