January 16, 2019 at 1:27 p.m.
Hodag hockey knocks off Antigo, earns No. 3 seed for GNC tourney
Hodag hockey knocks off Antigo, earns No. 3 seed for GNC tourney
Hunter Hicks' power play goal in the third period proved to be the difference Tuesday night as the Hodags defeated Antigo 3-2 at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building.
The win was Rhinelander's first over Antigo since a WIAA regional final victory over the Robins a decade ago. More importantly, Rhinelander leapfrogged ahead of Antigo in the conference standings with the win, giving the Hodags the No. 3 seed for the Great Northern Conference tournament, which begins next Thursday.
"As much of a letdown as we felt last Tuesday night - nothing against Lakeland - but we're a pretty excited bus tonight," Rhinelander coach M.J. Laggis said. "We just figured out on the ride home that we're going to be the 3-seed in the conference tournament. We didn't realize that until someone texted us on the bus and told us. That was pretty cool.
"It's been a building that's been murderous on us. Antigo's been so good the last four, five years. I felt like we had a much different attitude coming to this rink tonight."
That attitude translated to a fast start. Max Spaulding created a turnover and scored on a breakaway 5:05 into the first plenary. Conor Pequet added a power play goal 36 seconds later to give the Hodags a quick 2-0 lead.
Antigo battled back late in the period. An Isaac Wickersheim goal at the 15:21 mark halved the Hodags' lead heading into the first intermission. Dylan Lewis tied it for Antigo 1:21 into the second.
The score remained deadlocked until midway through the third period when Antigo's Calvin Jansen was taken to the box for a roughing penalty. Sixteen seconds after the penalty, at the 8:48 mark of the third, Hicks found a rebound in front of the net and poked it past netminder Brody Bunnell for what proved to be the game winner.
Spaulding got an assist on the winner as did Bridger Flory. In Hicks and Spaulding, Laggis said the Hodags got a big lift from a pair of players who had only five points combined on the season entering the contest.
"It was a great effort by our kids. We were talking about guys having to step up and make plays, and I was really impressed," he said. "Two guys who haven't put the puck in the net much were unbelievable tonight. Two kids that really, really stepped and scored who haven't been our top scorers were outstanding tonight."
Antigo outshot Rhinelander 38-29 in the game. Seth Stafford recorded 36 saves in the victory for the Hodags. Laggis said the Antigo launched a torrent of pressure over the final couple of minutes of regulation but, unlike last week's overtime loss to Lakeland, Stafford and the Hodag defense were able to keep the puck out of their net.
"Seth Stafford really played well. He made some big saves for us," Laggis said. "We basically ended the game with a couple of minutes of them having their goalie pulled and just heat on us and I mean heat. We kept fighting and chipping and, eventually, kept our head above water and found a way to win it.
"Our defensemen were awesome tonight, in particular Danny Zuiker, Brandon Kolasa and Sam Tjugum. Those three guys in particular just stood up and played well. All of our forwards played their guts out. It was a good team effort all the way around."
Laggis added that overtime loss to Lakeland, as difficult as it was to swallow, served as a rallying point over the last week.
"Sometimes it just stings and there's nothing you can do it about. It was tough to play Tuesday and have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday to think about it," he said. "But, I think we turned it to our advantage. We had a lot of positive talk going in the locker room. We had some spirited, spirited practices and worked hard and, I think, we came out of it a lot stronger."
With the win, Rhinelander will take on sixth-seeded Mosinee at the RIA to kick off the GNC tournament next Thursday. The Indians lost 4-0 to Tomahawk in a battle for the No. 5 seed on Tuesday. Waupaca heads to Northland Pines Friday night with the regular season conference title, and the No. 1 seed for the GNC tournament, in the balance.
Rhinelander is back in action Friday night against Medford in a non-conference contest to kick off the East/Merrill tournament in Merrill. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected]
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