December 28, 2020 at 7:41 a.m.
Hodags go quiet in GNC hockey showdown
Hodags go quiet in GNC hockey showdown
Tucker Stepan recorded a 25-save shutout and the Indians used single goals in the second and third periods to edge the Hodags 2-0 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
The Hodags entered the night a half game ahead of Mosinee, Lakeland and Northland Pines for the No. 1 seed in the Great Northern Conference ahead of next month's league tournament. The Hodags could still end up in the top spot but no longer control their own destiny.
"There's never been a bigger conference game in our building than tonight and we needed it badly," coach M.J. Laggis said. "It's unfortunate but life goes on. We've got to come back tomorrow and keep trying to get better."
Mosinee (6-2-1, 4-1-0-0 Great Northern) scored just 40 seconds into the second period as Slade Krause tipped in a shot from the blue line by Russell Bittner. The Indians added an insurance goal midway through the third as Jaegar Dhein played a carom off the glass off his own shot and scored on a rebound.
"That rebound couldn't have laid in a worse spot if you would have placed it there. There it was, off the glass," Laggis said.
Rhinelander pulled goalie Garrett Kulhanek for an extra attacker with 2:32 remaining, but was unable to get on the board. The Hodags outshot the Indians, but Tuesday's game marked the fourth straight contest against Mosinee where Rhinelander had an edge in total shots but ended up on the short end of the scoreboard.
"We knew what we wanted to try to do, but we were just unable to put pucks home," Laggis said. "It's not like we gave up goals just getting pounded on relentlessly in our own end where it's just a matter of time before it goes in. They were both kind of fluky plays, to be honest with you."
Laggis rued the team's lack of quality scoring chances, and its inability to finish on those chances, as the Hodags were held to fewer than three goals for the first time this season.
"It's certainly not a lack of effort on our part. We were really hard up and down the ice," he said. "One thing I would say is we're overhandling the puck and we're not shooting the puck enough, and we're not getting rebounds. Those are two things we're not doing a very good job of and we have to get better at it.
"Credit to their goaltender. He was outstanding tonight, and we shot right into him. We really did. I'm not going to say we made him look good, because he is very good, but we just shot into him all night long."
Part of the offensive struggles can be tied back to the fact that the Hodags are tinkering with their line combinations to come up with three effective lines. So far, Laggis said, the Hodags haven't been able to hit on the right mix.
"We're in the precarious position right now where we've got about two lines plus, and we just don't quite have three lines that are ready," he said. "We're trying to make that bench a little bigger. We do it, we play them more and we get burned and scored on. It's a fine line. You can see how hard it is when we're skating two lines like that, how tired we are."
Kulhanek made 21 saves in defeat for the Hodags.
The Hodags will host Antigo and Marshfield today and tomorrow in a pair of non-conference games at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
"We'll have two really strong opponents and good games. We've just got to keep grinding and finding a way to get better," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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