January 4, 2021 at 8:42 a.m.
RHS downs Antigo, Marshfield at home
RHS downs Antigo, Marshfield at home
The Hodags started with a 5-0 shutout over Antigo in a non-conference game Tuesday at the RIA and came back a day later to down Marshfield 8-5.
After a scoring dry spell that resulted in back-to-back losses at Amery and against Mosinee, the Hodags (6-2-0, 3-1-0 Great Northern) appeared to get things going in the right direction ahead of a daunting second half schedule.
In particular, the Hodags got a big pair of games from its top line of Harlan Wojtusik, Jake Losch and Joe Schneider. The trio accounted for eight goals and 10 assists over the course of the two contests.
"Today I thought that line was about as good as I've seen a line play in our building in a long time," coach M.J. Laggis said following Wednesday's win over the Tigers. "They were all over the ice. They were as fast as they could possibly be, making plays. I thought that line was outstanding today."
Wednesday's contest quickly developed into a scoring bonanza. Rhinelander scored three times over a 42-second span to take a 3-0 lead on the Tigers just 3:21 into the contest.
Leo Losch scored just 10 seconds into a power play for Rhinelander, then senior defenseman JC Adams sent in a blast from the blue line and Wojtusik responded with his eighth goal of the season to give Rhinelander a quick three-goal lead. Wojtusik would add his ninth goal later in the first as Rhinelander took a 4-2 lead after one period.
Nick Urban scored on a breakaway to cut Rhinelander's lead to one 8:02 into the second, but Rhinelander scored three unanswered courtesy of the Schneider brothers to take four-goal lead early in the third period. Sam Schneider scored from the top of the right circle at the 12:14 mark of the second, followed by back-to-back goals by Joe Schneider, who now has eight goals on the season.
"When it was 4-3 and we answered with 5-3, 6-3 in the second period, that just showed a lot of moxie on our part," Laggis said. "It showed a lot of poise. We didn't panic. The kids didn't panic and they made a lot of nice plays to get it to that point."
Ben Konrardy answered early in the third to trim the lead to 7-4, but Joey Belanger restored the four-goal margin at the 7:23 mark before Ian Haugen scored his second of the contest for Marshfield with 6:40 remaining.
Rhinelander outshot Marshfield 41-32 in the game, with Caleb Shefveland making 27 saves in the victory.
Rhinelander 5, Antigo 0
A day earlier Garrett Kulhanek turned in a 23-save effort to record the Hodags' first shutout of the season. The Hodags scored twice in each of the first two period on Tuesday and once more in the third to put the Red Robins away.
"It's always a battle with Antigo and typically, over the years, it's been more their way than ours for sure, no doubt about that," Laggis said. "They're a little bit down for their standards, for sure, but we also played pretty darn good.
"Garrett Kulhanek was just a man in that net, had a beautiful shutout and kept us right in there. And we really played well."
Belanger got the Hodags going with an unassisted goal 2:04 into the game and Joe Schneider added a pair of goals 1:24 apart between the end of the first and start of the second period to give Rhinelander a 3-0 edge. Jake Losch tacked on a goal 12:03 into the second and Wojtusik scored on the power play 7:25 into the third.
Rhinelander outshot Antigo 47-23 in the contest.
Up next, the Hodags travel to Mosinee tonight for a non-conference contest that kicks off a busy stretch of hockey. Rhinelander hosts Lakeland Thursday night in a battle of a pair of GNC front runners and the Hodags have picked up a non-conference game this coming Saturday at D.C. Everest.
"We're going to have our hands full. It's going to be a big challenge this week," Laggis said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.