February 11, 2021 at 7:59 a.m.
Hodags, Lakeland to reignite hockey rivalry in high-stakes sectional final
Hodags, Lakeland to reignite hockey rivalry in high-stakes sectional final
The Hodags are one win away from the WIAA Division 2 state tournament. Standing in its way tomorrow night will be arch rival Lakeland in the sectional final round.
It will be the first meeting between the teams since Jan. 7, a contest that Lakeland won 5-2 in the Rhinelander Ice Arena and a game that was marred by an early collision that left both teams without their leading scorers for the vast majority of the contest.
In that game, Rhinelander's Joe Schneider and Lakeland's Max Toijala met in a knee-to-knee hit roughly five minutes into the first period. Toijala missed the rest of the game, and Lakeland's next two contests, with an injury sustained in the collision. Schneider was assessed a kneeing major and a game disqualification penalty as a result.
"We lost Joe Schneider early in that game and that's an enormous loss," Rhinelander coach M.J. Laggis said of the junior who has 31 goals and 25 assists on the year. "You see what he brings to the table. He's just a big-time energy guy. Of course they lost their big boy (Toijala). At that moment, we kind of lost our momentum. We were a little rattled when we hurt two of their kids. We really were and we just never got it together. Credit goes to them. They beat us in our building."
Other players stepped up for Lakeland with Toijala out. Brayden Warchol scored twice, Victor Masayesva added a goal and an assist and Joe Beda had two assists. Lakeland took a 3-0 lead less than four minutes into the second period and never looked back. Warchol delivered the backbreaker, scoring short-handed to make it 4-1 after Harlan Wojtusik scored for Rhinelander on the power play.
The Rhinelander-Lakeland rivalry has been competitive and intense over the last few years. Lakeland has won six of the last 10 meetings between the teams.
"They're very good at getting under our skin. They evidenced that in Rhinelander. We lose our composure and a lot of that happens," Laggis said. "But last year, at Lakeland in a playoff game, we remedied that."
The Hodag coach was referencing his team's 3-1 playoff upset at Lakeland last February. In that game, the Hodags held Toijala off the scoresheet. Jake Losch scored a pair of goals as Rhinelander never trailed. Laggis said a similar mindset will be necessary tomorrow night.
"We've got to get on that mindset of understanding, 'Hey, they're a good team,'" he said. "There's a reason they're in that sectional final, no doubt about it. We're going to have to play with composure, not get rattled, keep everything in front of us, keep everything under control and get the job done. They've got a couple of really nice players and we're going to have to give it everything we've got to take care of them."
In Toijala, Beda and Victor Masayesva, Lakeland's top three scorers, combined for 93 points in only 13 regular season games. Sophomore Max Masayesva has played well in goal for Lakeland, going 8-3 with a 1.99 goals against average and a .916 save percentage during the regular season.
The T-Birds lost only four times in the regular season - twice to Mosinee and twice to Northland Pines.
Of course, Rhinelander has a couple of big goal scorers of their own with Schneider and Wojtusik, who have now have 104 points between them in 21 games. The two combined for seven points - four goals and three assists - in Tuesday night's 6-4 win at Northland Pines.
"They're a very good team, they've been on quite the win streak here," Lakeland head coach Jake Suter said of Rhinelander, looking ahead to tomorrow night's contest. "They won the conference tournament and they've been on a streak. M.J.'s got them going, he's got a good team, good leaders and we're excited for the matchup."
Both teams are looking for their first WIAA state tournament berth.
Faceoff is set for 5 p.m. tomorrow at the Mosinee Rec Center.
Lakeland Times sports writer Brett LaBore contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.