December 6, 2021 at 9:20 a.m.
Fantastic fourth
Hodag hockey blasts Northland Pines 7-1, score 4th straight win over Eagles
Fantastic fourth
Thursday's victory was the most convincing of the bunch. Leo Losch netted a hat trick, Joey Belanger had a goal and three assists and the Hodags routed Northland Pines 7-1 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Northland Pines (1-2-0, 0-1-0-0 Great Northern) is not the same team that was a WIAA Division 2 state finalist just two seasons ago, but the Hodags still won convincingly despite being down three players due to injury.
It all still seems a bit surreal to coach M.J. Laggis, who spent much of his two-plus decades on the Hodag bench 0-for against the Eagles.
"If you would have said you're going to beat them one time in the next four, I might have questioned you, just given the track record, given the history," he said. "We did a really good job, last year is last year obviously, but to go up there and win three times, I still think about it. It was such an unbelievable feeling. This year to come in here, with some kids out and injured, you're thinking, 'Oh, it will be back to the same old, same old collapse into Pines,' But we didn't. And they're down for their standards, clearly, but we came out, played well and really controlled the game from a standpoint of shots on net, traffic to the net and time of possession in their zone. We controlled a lot of that and, eventually, we started finishing."
The Hodags learned this past week that the knee injury senior forward Joe Schneider sustained in a win Nov. 23 against Ashland is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the season. Despite both Schneider and Carter Detienne (hand) out of the lineup, it was Rhinelander's makeshift second line that did the early damage against the Eagles.
Brandon Baumann got his first career varsity goal on a rebound 3:19 into the contest. Belanger tipped in a shot from Baumann at the 14:24 mark and freshman Zach Edyvean scored his first career goal on a nice feed from behind the net from Belanger at the 15:45 mark as Rhinelander took a 3-1 lead following one period.
The Hodags are trying to find combinations that work with Belanger, who scored 15 goals last season. Joe Schneider, Detienne and Finn Tulowitzky were the Hodags' first options, but with Schneider and Detienne injured and Tulowitzky moved back to defense to replace the injured Ben Brooks (shoulder), a number of new faces have joined the fray.
"Joey Belanger was smart with the puck again tonight and did a lot of good things," coach Laggis said. "He created a lot of chances. He could have buried a couple more himself and had a lot of good chances. We've got some young guys trying to find their way. Dalton Fritz got a lot of ice tonight, AJ Turek, who's back after a long layoff from hockey, is doing some really good things, playing aggressive and getting pucks deep. Zach Edyvean pops his first ever goal as a high school player against Pines, that's a rarity. Just some really good things going on there. Brandon Baumann was basically a practice guy last year and comes out tonight and pops his first goal. We've got a lot going there. We've just got to keep getting better."
Still clinging to a 3-1 lead late in the second, the Hodags' top unit took over. Losch scored from Cal Laggis at the 11:16 mark and then scored again on the power play at the 14:12 mark. Defenseman Layne Roeser scored from the point just 19 seconds later and Losch finished his hat trick 1:17 into the third to give Rhinelander a six-goal lead to invoke the running-clock rule.
"Layne's got a really good shot and finds the net. Leo got hot with the puck tonight and that was great, and Cal's a playmaker all over the rink," coach Laggis said. "He played gutty and took some hits tonight. That top line played really well. Gavin Denis did some good stuff out there. You've got to remember with Gavin is he's only a sophomore and he's finding himself and doing some really good things out there.
"Anytime you get Pines in run time, that's a rarity. It was really fun, but we've got to get a lot better in all areas of the game. We really do. We were sloppy in a lot of spots, and our kids know that."
Rhinelander outshot the Eagles 48-13 in the contest. Garrett Kulhanek made 12 saves in the win. Drew Christenson had Pines' lone goal, scoring a rebound off a Patrick Roth shot less than seven minutes into the opening period.
Rhinelander 7, Pacelli 1
The Hodags followed up Thursday's 7-1 victory with a matching result on the road Friday night at Pacelli in a non-conference contest.
The numbers were similar for the Hodags, who outshot the Cardinals 53-14 in the contest and scored six unanswered goals to break open what was a 1-1 tie late in the first period.
Rhinelander's top line of Denis, Losch and Cal Laggis was active again, scoring the team's first four goals and accounting for 10 points overall on the night. Belanger added a pair of goals to bring his team-leading total to eight on the season.
Denis opened the opener for the Hodags from Cal Laggis and Losch 11:42 into the first period. After Mason Zielinski tied it for the Cardinals at the 13:45 mark, Rhinelander tacked on two more goals over the final 1:53 of the period - one from Denis and another from Losch with less than a second remaining in the period.
"Just a beautiful little dish to Leo," coach Laggis said. "Leo made that goalie go left-to-right and put it top shelf just as the horn went. That was awesome, just a total momentum situation right there. That was one of the key plays of the game, no doubt and a really nice finish by Leo."
Cal Laggis extended the lead to 4-1 just 1:41 into the second period before Roeser scored on the power play goal at the 11:40 mark.
Belanger scored both of Rhinelander's third-period goals to round out the scoring.
"He's just been willing to play with whoever the next guys up are and have a nice attitude," coach Laggis said. "He's really helped us in that regard, just being a leader with whoever he's playing with. It's been great."
Caleb Shefveland made his second start in goal this season, and picked up his first win, making 13 saves Friday. The Hodags' defense kept the pressure off the senior netminder much of the night.
"Chevy (Shefveland) played really good in net. He did a nice job. He didn't see a ton of shots but, when he did, he held us in there nicely," coach Laggis said. "Defensively, Sam Schneider was just outstanding and really held it down.
Injury report
While left thinner because of Joe Schneider's injury, coach Laggis said the team has no other choice but to pick up the pieces and move forward.
"Losing Joe for the year is really, really unfortunate on so many levels but, as a group you have to respond and have to keep going," he said prior to Thursday's game. "You sure don't underestimate what he brought to our team or sell that short but, at the end of it, you've just got to acknowledge it, move on and try to compete. Truly unfortunate there, feel terrible for Joe."
Schneider, who was Rhinelander's leading scorer a season ago, was injured on a check from behind into the boards early into the third period of the Nov. 23 against Ashland. He reinjured the same knee that cost him the entire football season for the Hodags this past fall.
The Hodags got some more mixed news on the injury front Friday night as defenseman Cody Everson left the game at Pacelli with an arm injury and did not return to the contest. Coach Laggis said preliminary indications are that Everson avoided a significant injury, however his status for this week's games against Chequamegon/Phillips tonight and at Waupaca on Friday are uncertain.
In the short term, the injury leaves the Hodags even thinner at defenseman.
"We're going to be about two lines plus two (forwards) and three to four D. That's how we're rolling," coach Laggis said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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