January 9, 2019 at 1:16 p.m.
Swarmed under
Lakeland stuns Hodag hockey on late OT goal
Swarmed under
Kyle Schaub scored on a rebound with 4.5 seconds remaining in overtime as Lakeland stunned the Hodags 3-2 in a Great Northern Conference matchup.
Lakeland came in struggling. The win was only the third of the Thunderbirds season and first in GNC play. Rhinelander outshot Lakeland 40-22 in the game, but yet the T-Birds continued to find a way to be a thorn in the Hodags' side.
"It doesn't matter who's coaching them or what group they have, Lakeland just flat out has our number," Rhinelander coach M.J. Laggis said of a Lakeland team that has won four of the last five meetings with the Hodags. "They outplay us and outwork us in the key moments. We just give up bad goals. We give up out-worked goals. We give up all kinds of odd-man situations we don't need to."
Conor Pequet scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season for Rhinelander to tie the game at 2 just more than two minutes into the third period, but the Hodags did no further damage, despite outshooting the T-Birds 14-3 over the final 17 minutes of regulation.
Rhinelander's best chance at a go-ahead goal came with less than three minutes left in the third when Abe Laggis got behind the Lakeland defense on a 1-on-0. Lakeland's Max Toijala caught Laggis from behind and Laggis put a hurried shot straight into Lakeland goalie Collin Guelcher.
Guelcher, who had 38 saves in the contest, came up big in overtime as well. He stopped several good looks for Rhinelander on a power play midway through the period.
"It's just difficult when you have opportunity and you have chances and we're still making some mistakes that are costing us in the offensive zone," Laggis said. "We're missing the net, shooting into goalies a lot. We're not getting rebounds. Give it up to their goalie. He was outstanding tonight."
Lakeland saved its best offensive pressure of the night for the final minute of overtime, launching a flurry of shots on Rhinelander goalie Seth Stafford. Eventually, Schaub found the handle on a rebound right in front of the net and backhanded home the game-winner.
"We got hung out there at the end of that thing for a minute and something," coach Laggis said. "We desperately needed a line change and we don't get off the ice. That's the way it goes. We might have had a chance or two to clear that puck and we just didn't do it. One of the things we have a knack for is late in the period, we just give up bad goals. We had a chance to clear that puck and we'd just throw it at the boards to their point or throw it in harm's way instead of high off the glass. That's just one of those things we go over again and again and again and we're not getting better at it."
Rhinelander led 1-0 after one period on a goal by sophomore Jake Losch at the 10:25 mark. Losch capitalized with Lakeland's Josh Sennett mishandled the puck in his own zone. Losch picked up the steal and quickly fired past Guelcher to put the Hodags ahead.
Lakeland tied the game moments into the second period as Bryce Gilbertson took the opening faceoff down the boards, walked in on net and fired a shot that bounced off Stafford's chest, took an awkward bounce once it hit the ice and trickled between Stafford's legs.
Toijala, Lakeland's leading scorer, tallied his 11th goal of the season and put the T-Birds in front at the 8:13 mark of the second, moments after a Rhinelander penalty expired.
The Hodags were without defenseman Danny Zuiker (illness) Tuesday night. Zuiker is also a member of Rhinelander's top power play unit and it seemed to have an effect on a Hodag team that had converted on 6 of 15 power play chances during a three-game winning streak. The Hodags were 0 for 4 with the man advantage Tuesday against a Lakeland team that came into the contest at only 61 percent on the penalty kill.
"Our goal-scoring guys aren't scoring enough and the power play is pretty flat," M.J. Laggis said. "Abe gets it there on the side of the umbrella and there's just too much stand time and not enough moving the puck to the open guy. It hurts not having Danny. I feel like we were hurt by that tonight. That's not just a power play guy, but one of your key defensemen."
The end result put a damper on what the Hodags were hoping would be a unique night at the RIA. The Hodags wore throwback uniforms of the Rhinelander Hornets, who were state amateur hockey champions in 1950, 1951 and 1953. The team wore purple sweaters that replicated the Hornets' look that featured golden yellow numerals and trim.
"It was just trying to pay respect to the '50s teams of the Hornets," coach Laggis said. "I thought it would be really cool to buy throwback unis and it would give us a lift when we come out in those things. We didn't do it, but it's nice to pay respect to those guys and honor great hockey that was played here in the '50s."
Despite the loss, Rhinelander (9-5-0, 3-2-0-0 Great Northern) could still have a shot at the No. 3 seed for the upcoming Great Northern Conference tournament. Antigo plays at Northland Pines tonight. Should Antigo lose that game, and Rhinelander beat Antigo at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building next Tuesday, the Hodags would get the No. 3 seed for the GNC tourney, which begins Jan. 24.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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