February 26, 2020 at 2:04 p.m.
Midnight in Mosinee
Hodags' Cinderella playoff runs ends on OT goal against Indians
Midnight in Mosinee
Sophomore AJ Buenning went end-to-end off a turnover and buried a top-shelf goal with 57.1 seconds remaining in the first overtime as Mosinee edged Rhinelander 3-2 in a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal game Tuesday night in Mosinee.
The seventh-seeded Hodags were looking for their second straight playoff upset, after dispatching second-seeded Lakeland 3-1 in the opening game of the tournament last Thursday. Rhinelander rallied in the third period behind power play goals from Cal Laggis and Max Spaulding to force overtime with the third-seeded Indians.
Though Rhinelander outshot Mosinee 43-27, the Hodags watched their season come to an end in one of the most dramatic and heartbreaking ways imaginable.
"The mood is somber, those guys wanted it," coach Laggis said after the game. "They're disappointed they couldn't finish it. They got it to 2-2. They got it to overtime and they're desperately disappointed they couldn't finish it.
"We got a huge playoff upset a week ago and we darn near pulled it off here tonight. I'm disappointed in the outcome, but I'm not disappointed in our effort."
The finish was not without controversy, at least in Laggis' eyes. Moments before the game winner, Harlan Wojtusik tried to split a pair of Mosinee defenders as he took the zone 1-on-2. Wojtusik appeared to be held and subsequently taken to the ice by Colin Erickson, but no penalty was called and Buenning sprung free for what proved to be the game-winning breakaway.
"You come back at the end and Harlan Wojtusik gets tackled and they let it go," coach Laggis said. "It's life. That's how hockey goes. It's high school officials. There's no replay. There's no ability (to dispute a call). They did what they did. Disappointing how that went at the end. We took our penalty in overtime and they let it go the other way. Disappointing. I never bag on officials, but that was incredibly, incredibly disappointing."
Laggis could be seen disputing the call with the officials after the game, though he said he never received much of an explanation as to why a penalty, which would have negated Buenning's breakaway, was not called.
"He shook his head and said, 'Nope. Nope.' He had nothing to say," Laggis said. "That's how it was. I don't want to say too much. I'm emotional right now, for sure. But if they watch that on (replay), they'll really scratch their heads and wonder why there wasn't a call there. That's all I can say."
That Rhinelander forced the game to overtime in the first place seemed improbable after a pair of Matej Rychtarik goals staked Mosinee to a 2-0 lead in the second period. Rychtarik scored 36 seconds into the second stanza on the power play off a pass through the crease by Tobias Holka. Rychtarik scored again at the 13:44 mark of the second on a breakaway as he beat Rhinelander goalie Seth Stafford through the five-hole.
In what was a penalty-laden game - the teams combined for 34 penalty minutes on 17 infractions -Rhinelander used a couple of late chances with the man advantage to draw even. Cal Laggis found a rebound off a JC Adams shot from the point with two seconds remaining on a Tanner Fjelsted tripping call to give Rhinelander life with 6:32 left in regulation.
Moments later, Mosinee's Tyler Selenske was taken to the box for a roughing call following an aggressive open-ice check. Spaulding, who played despite battling illness, tipped a puck home off a Joe Schneider shot to tie it with 5:10 to play.
"Instead of laying down when it was 2-0, we roared right back in the third," coach Laggis said. "At the end of the second, we had a three-part plan. We had to get through the penalty kill, and then we talked about how we're going to get back in the game and what we're going do differently on our forecheck. We made some nice adjustments. We came out, we got pressure, we went to the net hard and first Cal Laggis gets one and then Max gets one and it's 2-2."
Stafford made 24 saves in defeat for Rhinelander including a number of quality looks as the Hodags kept Mosinee's top three scorers - Holka, Trey Fitzgerald and Max Beste - from scoring in the contest. Stafford did not allow more than three goals in any of his final five starts.
"What a way for a senior goalie, who's had some high moments and some low moments, to respond the way he did at the end of the year with the game he played at Lakeland and the game he played tonight," Laggis said. "We were down by two, instead of unraveling and losing his cool, he was absolutely composed. He played a fantastic third period, allowed us to get back in that game big time and we almost had it."
Laggis called the Mosinee game a microcosm of the Hodags' season. Rhinelander had a depleted roster all year but still managed a 11-14-0 record.
"I can't say enough about us battling through adversity all year," Laggis said. "It started right in the second week of the season with guys missing practice, guys sick, guys injured. We had injuries all year long, guys ineligible. I don't think we had a full team at practice since somewhere in the middle of December. All I can say, from a coach's standpoint, and a team standpoint, we had a core of guys that just continued to battle and fight through adversity. When we lost that home game to Antigo, you felt like we were done. When we lost the home game to Medford, you felt like we were done. I kept preaching resilience and we kept working hard and working through it."
Mosinee (17-8-0), which was the predetermined site for the sectional finals, will host Northland Pines Saturday for a ticket to the Division 2 state tournament. Northland Pines, the champions of the Great Northern Conference, beat Waupaca 8-0 in the other sectional semifinal Tuesday and has already defeated Mosinee twice this season by a combined score of 15-0.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.