January 25, 2019 at 1:19 p.m.
GNC-leading Northland Pines blanks Northern Edge 6-0
GNC-leading Northland Pines blanks Northern Edge 6-0
The Eagles dominated the Northern Edge to the tune 58 shots to 15 and won 6-0 Thursday night at the Eagle River Sports Arena.
It was a much different game than a week earlier in Antigo when the Edge hung with Pines in a 3-1 loss. It more closely resembled a 6-1 decision for Pines when the two teams met in Eagle River Dec. 3. The Eagles got stronger as Thursday's game went along and, with the win, clinched a share of the Great Northern Conference title.
"It started out a little slow. We played a little better in the first and second period," Northern Edge coach Tom Roeser said. "They've got a couple of girls where their feet never stop moving and we have trouble keeping up with them."
Cameron Ramesh put the Eagles on the board 4:27 into the first period. The Edge kept the Eagles out of their net for the next 24 minutes of hockey but the game turned into the Grace Wittkopf and Emma Sima show down the stretch.
Wittkopf scored on the power play at the 11:46 mark of the second, and again with 33 seconds remaining in the period , as the Eagles took a 3-0 lead after two. Sima made it 4-0 with a short-handed tally just 36 seconds into the third. Wittkopf completed her hat trick, notching her third goal at the 3:46 mark and Sima accounted for the final goal at the 11:31 mark.
Alicia Turunen made 52 saves for the Northern Edge, including 24 in the second period alone.
"Our goalie saw a lot of shots tonight and played really well. She didn't like her third period, but we didn't give her much help," Roeser said. "She's doing her job and now we need to start doing ours in front of her. Some of the shots they put on her were soft, but our wings have to start blocking shots. That's key for us, to keep some of those pucks off her and maybe create some odd-man rushes the other way."
Both teams committed two penalties in the contest. The Edge was 0-2 on the power play while Northland Pines was 1-2 with the skater advantage. Goalies Piper Snedden and Ashlynn Boxrucker combined to make 15 saves in the shutout for the Eagles.
The Northern Edge (2-9-0, 2-5-0 Great Northern) returns to action Monday night against the only team it has beaten this season - Medford. Roeser said Thursday the Edge would lose a practice in Antigo Friday due to the extreme cold, giving the team essentially one day together to prepare for the Raiders.
"We need the ice time. Hopefully they use tomorrow as a day of rest, though I don't think we need rest. I think we need practice," he said. "We'll come back on Sunday, practice hard and then we'll get to travel to Medford."
Faceoff is set for 5 p.m. Monday at Medford's Simek Center.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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