January 3, 2020 at 1:11 p.m.
Hodag hockey routs Hatchets 11-0
Second line of Spaulding, Losch brothers accounts for 7 goals
Hodag hockey routs Hatchets 11-0
Linemates Max Spaulding and Leo Losch each recorded hat tricks, and the second line accounted for seven goals overall, in a 11-0 drubbing of Tomahawk at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Spaulding added a pair of assists and Leo Losch had a helper as well.
The third member of the line, Jake Losch, had three points with a goal and a pair of assists. It was way too much for an undermanned Tomahawk (2-9-0, 0-4-0-0 Great Northern) squad that was outshot 50-7 in the contest.
"Max is a senior and he's coming into his own. He's a captain and he's a leader and I'm proud. He's played some opportunistic hockey where, when he gets a chance, he makes good on it," coach M.J. Laggis said afterward. "I'm real happy about that. It was a well-deserved hat trick and a really nice effort by Max. Leo Losch also had a hat trick. That was really nice to see a freshman do that. He's pretty proud of himself, and he should be, because that's a hard accomplishment ... We got Jake Losch back in the second and he made an immediate impact, like I knew he would."
Scoreless through 10 minutes, Rhinelander (5-6-0, 2-3-0-0 Great Northern) popped three quick goals in a 2-minute, 35-second stretch in the latter stages of the first period and never looked back.
The Hodags scored four more goals in the first 5:53 of the second period and found the net four more times in the third.
Spaulding got the party started with an unassisted goal at the 10:06 mark of the first period. Less than two minutes later, Leo Losch scored on a breakaway off a pass from Spaulding to make it 2-0 and Wojtusik gathered in a rebound to make it 3-0 a short time later.
Wojtusik added his team-leading 16th goal 2:10 into the second period, which started another scoring barrage. Leo Losch put home a rebound off a Spaulding shot to make it 5-0 and then Spaulding scored twice in the same shift to make it 7-0 by the 5:53 mark.
Jake Losch scored to open the third period. Joe Schneider and Cal Laggis also scored before Leo Losch finished off his hat trick with 2:20 to play.
Rhinelander, which wore throwback uniforms honoring the Rhinelander Hornets teams of the 1950s, controlled the puck most of the night and effective killed off any Tomahawk scoring chances. The Hatchets registered the first shot on goal in the first period, but did not have a shot the rest of the way. Five of Tomahawk's seven shots came in the second and the Hatchets didn't register a shot on goal in the third until the final seconds of regulation.
Rhinelander played all three of its goalies in the contest. Seth Stafford got the win, making three saves over the first 23 minutes, 40 seconds of the game. Garrett Kulhanek made three saves over the next 16-plus minutes and Caleb Shefveland finished out the contest, making one save over the final 11 minutes.
Tomahawk's Chris Callahan was peppered with pucks during the contest, and made 39 saves in defeat for a Hatchet squad that suited only 12 skaters and two goalies for the contest.
"(Tomahawk) Coach (Chris) Bembinster is an outstanding coach and a great hockey guy. I've been in exactly his shoes where he's kind of got a thin group and doesn't have a lot of depth," M.J. Laggis said.
After splitting games - including an 8-3 win over Tomahawk - in the Baraboo Holiday tournament, the Hodags vowed to do a better job avoiding penalties. That pledge seemed to work, at least on Thursday, as the Hodags were called for only one penalty the entire contest.
"We kept our feet moving all the way around so we didn't have those obstruction penalties. I thought we did a really good job of keeping our hands down," Laggis said.
The Hodags are back in action today taking on Brookfield at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. Rhinelander traveled to Brookfield last January, losing 4-0, and coach Laggis said the Hodags have had the rematch circled on their calendar for some time.
"I'll tell you what, our locker room will not have trouble getting fired up to play them," he said. "I'm not impressed with how they acted last year and we want a piece of them. We want to go out there and try to win the hockey game. We know they're good. They draw from 12,000 kids - a pretty big co-op - and they'll let you know about it. We're going to go out and give them everything we have Saturday for sure."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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