January 18, 2021 at 8:23 a.m.
Front line dominates for Hodags in wins over Antigo, East/Merrill
Front line dominates for Hodags in wins over Antigo, East/Merrill
Wojtusik and Schneider in particular had big nights Thursday and Friday, collecting 10 points each between the two games as Rhinelander downed Antigo 6-1 in a non-conference contest Thursday in Antigo and smashed East/Merrill 11-2 Friday night in Merrill.
"We finished a week the way we should finish it," Rhinelander coach M.J. Laggis said after Friday night's game.
Wojtusik scored three times in Thursday win at Antigo while Schneider scored five times in the win against East/Merrill. Both now have 35 total points on the season, with Schneider leading the goal count, 18-17 over Wojtusik.
"Joe Schneider might be, pound-for-pound, the hardest working guy I've coached. He's a beast. Harlan Wojtusik might not have had a ton of goals tonight, but he's a man amongst boys out there," Laggis said. "Even when Harlan's not popping goals, he just completely controls the game so nicely. I've had very few players in my time that can do that.
"I'm really happy with the way that's line's playing and the leadership that they're showing. That's exciting."
Freshman Joey Belanger on the second line also had a big couple of nights, combining for five goals in the two contests. He now has 12 goals on the season.
Rhinelander 11, East/Merrill 2
Despite outshooting the Bluejacks 25-1 in the first period, Rhinelander held only a 1-0 lead on Friday night before the floodgates opened with a seven-goal second period.
Joe Schneider did the heavy lifting early. He scored the Hodags' lone goal in the first at the 7:29 mark, and made it 2-0 on a tally 53 seconds into the second. Wojtusik, who finished with five assists in Friday's game, had the helpers on both goals.
After East/Merrill cut it to one on a Reid Hojan breakaway tally, Rhinelander responded by scoring four times in a 2-minute, 50-second stretch. Schneider fired one in from the corner at 5:10 and then scored on a breakaway at 6:38. Belanger scored at the 7:42 mark on a rebound before Schneider scored again 18 seconds later.
"Everything Joe Schneider touched tonight was golden," Laggis said. "He had one of those nights where he turns around, shoots it and it's going in."
Belanger and Jake Losch added goals to give Rhinelander an 8-1 lead after two periods. East/Merrill got a Blake Raddatz goal 1:08 into the third, but Rhinelander answered with goals by Wojtusik, Jake Losch and Belanger over the final eight minutes of the game. The final two goals came as part of an extended 5-on-3 power play after the Bluejacks were assessed two major penalties in a span of 47 seconds.
"We were cool and collected and not getting hot-headed about stuff," Laggis said. "It could have gotten out of hand fast and I'm very happy with our kids for that."
Rhinelander outshot East/Merrill 56-11 in the contest. Caleb Shefveland made nine saves for RHS as he played until midway into the third. Tyler Kimmerling-Keating finished the game in goal.
Rhinelander 6, Antigo 1
Wojtusik scored twice in the first period on Thursday night as the Hodags skated out of the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building with their second win in three days over the Red Robins.
Rhinelander has defeated Antigo three times this season, by a combined 21-3, but Laggis said Thursday's win proved a little more difficult than a 10-2 victory over the Robins earlier in the week.
"It was definitely tougher. I thought Antigo worked awfully hard tonight. Even thought we were up 2-0 after one, I thought we got outworked a lot," he said. "Antigo played hard. They never quit, and that was a much tighter game."
Rhinelander scored the first six goals unanswered in the contest. Belanger opened the scoring in the second period with a goal 3:35 in before Wojtusik finished his hat trick at the 4:49 mark. Joe Schneider and Belanger added two more goals later in the period before Antigo's Garrett Husnick scored with 15 seconds left in the period to account for the final score.
Rhinelander outshot Antigo 45-20 in the contest as Garrett Kulhanek made 19 saves in the win.
"I've never gone to Antigo and won two games in a week there, so that was a lot of fun," Laggis said. "We did what we had to do. It wasn't perfect, but we certainly did what we had to do. Our defensemen played well tonight and I have to give them a mention. All of them played well but, in particular, senior JC Adams had an excellent night and Sam Schneider was just outstanding back there, just made great play after great play."
Up next
Rhinelander hosts Medford in the final Great Northern Conference regular season game of the season tonight at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. The Hodags (9-5-0, 4-2-0 Great Northern) are guaranteed no worse than the No. 4 seed for next week's conference tournament, but would move up to the No. 3 seed with a win tonight and a Lakeland victory over Northland Pines on Saturday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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