February 8, 2021 at 8:49 a.m.
Survive and advance
Hodag hockey takes out Waupaca, will face Pines again in sectional semifinals
Survive and advance
Freshman Joey Belanger tipped in the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Garrett Kulhanek stopped 26 pucks as Rhinelander fended off Waupaca 4-2 to open the WIAA tournament at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
In control, up 2-0 late in the second following a Finn Tulowitzky power play goal, the Hodags were suddenly reeling as Waupaca scored twice in the final 2:14 of the period to tie the game. Rhinelander (14-6-0) responded in the third to advance to the sectional semifinal round and a third meeting with Northland Pines tonight in Eagle River.
"Playoff wins are hard to come by, so I'm proud of the guys. I'm proud of the seniors," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said.
"We showed some good leadership in the locker room at the end of the second, I'm talking about the seniors, and I'm proud of that," Laggis added.
Belanger put Rhinelander in front for good, tipping in a Joe Schneider shot from the point 3:50 into the third period. Jake Losch added some insurance for the Hodags, as he walked in from the right faceoff circle and beat goalie Hagen Rasmussen to make it 4-2 at the 12:14 mark of the period.
None of Rhinelander's four goals came from leading scorers Joe Schneider or Harlan Wojtusik, who combined to tally 53 goals during the regular season. Schneider had a pair of assists, but Waupaca (9-11-0) slowed down Wojtusik, who scored five times in a 7-5 victory over the Comets Jan. 26 in the GNC tournament.
"You saw how hard they were back checking Harlan Wojtusik and they were on Joe Schneider all the time," Laggis said. "I just knew some other guys had to make some plays and score some goals. You got a big goal from Finn Tulowitzky. You got a big goal from Joey Belanger. We got some other guys on the scoresheet."
Leo Losch got the Hodags on the board just 1:29 into the contest, scoring on an opportunistic chance. Defenseman Sam Schneider flipped the puck out of the zone to Jake Losch on a breakaway. Rasmussen stopped Jake Losch's initial shot, but fumbled the puck and Leo Losch, Jake's younger brother, was there to capitalize on the miscue.
The 1-0 lead held until late in the second period when Tulowitzky, a sophomore, scored just 22 seconds into a power play, converting a rebound off a Joe Schneider chance.
Rhinelander's momentum quickly vanished as Waupaca defenseman Vin Nikolai took a shot from the blue line that deflected off a Rhinelander defenseman and past Kulhanek. Moments later, Jed Vanden Bush hit the post for Waupaca on a 2-on-1 chance but Eli Bartel, the Comets' leader scorer, cleaned up the rebound to tie the game.
"We go up 2-0 on a beautiful digging Finn Tulowitzky power play goal and we let our guard down, have a bad line change and, just like that, it's 2-2 and they're roaring with all of the momentum going into the end of the second period," Laggis said. "We got right back to the basics in that locker room. We just talked about the breakout, the fundamentals of our breakout, making it be there. We talked about winning races all over the rink."
Those were the only two flaws for Kulhanek, who made multiple scramble-type saves in the third period to keep an opportunistic Waupaca team at bay.
He made a couple of stops with 7:30 remaining before Cal Laggis finally cleared out a loose puck in front of the Hodag cage. Kulhanek made a couple more saves in a pileup in front of the net a minute later. Waupaca momentarily thought it had scored but the tying goal was disallowed as the net had come dislodged from its mooring and the play was blown dead before the Comets put home a rebound.
The win sets up Rhinelander's third trip to the Eagle River Sports Arena tonight to face top-seeded Northland Pines. Rhinelander has twice defeated the Eagles this season, by matching 5-2 margins, and will need a third win to secure the program's first trip to a WIAA sectional final.
"Everyone talks about how hard it is to beat a team three times but, you know what, it's hard for that team that's been beat twice. It's just as hard for them," coach Laggis said. "We've just got to get ready to play hockey, focus on the game, focus on what we want to do on the breakout and how we want to get through that neutral ice."
Faceoff is set for 7 o'clock tonight in Eagle River.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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