December 8, 2021 at 2:08 p.m.
Northern Edge falls to Northland Pines in season opener
Northern Edge falls to Northland Pines in season opener
Northland Pines struck early and again late as it defeated the Edge 5-1 at the Eagle River Sports Arena.
The contest was supposed to be the Edge's fifth game of the season, but instead ended up as the team's first. With a small roster that was depleted by illness, the Edge was forced to back out of a three-game Thanksgiving weekend tournament in Fond du Lac and postpone a game against Wisconsin Valley Union Nov. 30.
The Edge dressed only 12 skaters on Tuesday. The rust showed as the Edge spotted the Eagles two goals over the first 12 minutes, and the lack of bodies showed late as Pines controlled the third period and tacked on two goals in the final 3:14 of the contest.
"You could tell it was our first game," Edge coach Tom Roeser said. "We started out pretty slow, were probably outshot probably 10-2 right away, just slow feet. We've only had a couple of practices since this illness layoff so it took us a little bit to get our feet. We played better as the game went on."
"They had a deeper bench than us," Roeser added. "I wish we would have had those games a couple of weeks ago and I think we'd be at a different point right now but it is what it is. We're going to work a lot of conditioning and we're going to have to either get more conditioned or we're going to have to get others ready to play."
Grace Wittkopf scored twice for the Eagles, while Mallory Schmidt had the two other goals. Schmidt got things started for Pines as she took a puck away along the boards in the Edge zone, walked in on the left side and scored 3:52 into the contest. Wittkopf got her first of the night at the 11:52 mark of the first and she skated through traffic and finished from the slot.
The Edge got back to within a goal just over a minute later as junior Wyndi Saari scored off a faceoff. Taylor Heleniak won the draw back to Saari for a one-timer.
"Wyndi took a one-timer and shelved it. It was a nice shot and a nice faceoff by Taylor," Roeser said.
Wittkopf cashed in on a 3-on-0 chance 7:27 into the second period to make it 3-1 Pines. Schmidt scored 13:46 into the third on a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle and Wittkopf finished the scoring on a short-handed breakaway chance with 20 seconds to play.
Pines outshot the Edge 39-19 in the game - including a 19-6 advantage in the third period.
"I was pretty proud of the girls. We took some shifts off and that, but I think they were more competitive than what the scored showed," Roeser said.
Junior Ellie Stank made 34 saves in defeat for the Edge as she began her second campaign as the team's starting goaltender. She went 2-8-0 last year in a season that was slowed due to a lingering knee injury.
"Ellie was great in the net. At the end of the second it probably could have been 5-1. She stopped some breakaways," Roeser said. "She controlled the rebounds. I don't know if we gave up a rebound goal. They were mostly one-timers in front. There are two of them she'd probably want back, but she played really well tonight for the shots she faced."
Penalties were limited in the game. The Edge committed three infractions for six minutes while the Eagles had two penalties for four minutes. While the Edge did not spend much time on the power play, Roeser said it's an area that is in need of improvement.
"They controlled us on the power play," he said. "That's one thing we need to work on, even though it's a small part of the game. I don't like to dedicate a lot of time to things like that, but I think maybe I need to. If you can get one of two of those power play goals, it might change the mood of the game."
The Edge (0-1-0) is back in action tonight as it hosts the Western Wisconsin (Somerset) co-op at the Lakeland Ice Arena in Minocqua.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.