February 10, 2022 at 10:11 a.m.
Double the fun
Northern Edge wins twice in two days
Double the fun
By By Brett LaBore & Jeremy Mayo-
In two days, the Northern Edge tripled that total.
First, the Northern Edge beat Medford 7-2 in Rhinelander on Monday. On Tuesday in Lakeland, the Edge rallied to beat Wisconsin Valley Union 4-3.
The wins gave the Edge (3-12-0) a much-needed shot in the arm toward the end of the regular season.
"It was nice to get two wins, it's good to be on that side of the scoreboard," coach Tom Roeser said.
Northern Edge 4, Wis. Valley Union 3
Lakeland sophomore Taylor Heleniak had two big nights for the Edge, with five goals and four assists.
Her final goal proved to be the biggest.
With the Edge on the penalty kill and tied late in the second period against Wisconsin Valley Union, Heleniak got free off a pass from teammate Kassidee Linssen, and beat goalie Madison Wagner-Durr for what proved to be the game-winner in the Edge's 4-3 triumph.
"My mentality is I used to just take a shot, but now I look to move her side-to-side like forehand, backhand, backhand, forehand," Heleniak said about her goal. "Those always seem to work the most."
From there goalie Ellie Stank preserved the lead with seven saves in the third period. Altogether, Stank made 22 saves in 25 opportunities on the night.
"(Ellie) didn't feel well coming in tonight," coach Roeser said. "We were hoping to let her face less rubber, but she went in and did her job and played well enough even though not feeling well to get us a big W."
It took only 1:25 for Wisconsin Valley Union to get on the board in the contest. Leah Pavelski took a shot that got by Stank for the first goal of the game.
The Edge had a 12-4 shot advantage in the first period and the pressure finally paid off when they scored late in the period. Maria Gironella took a shot on goal that took a rebound. Wyndi Saari was there to tap it in the net. Gironella and Maddi Roeser got assists.
The Edge was unable to take the lead on a power play at the end of the first and into the beginning of the second period. Offensive fireworks erupted for both teams after that.
Stank made a big save early in the period to preserve the tie, but Hailey Cashmer snuck one in for Valley Union's second goal of the game at the 2:11 mark of the period.
The Edge responded in a big way. Linssen took a shot and scored 22 seconds after the Cashmer goal to tie it at 2-2. Heleniak got the assist.
It didn't take long for the Edge to score again. The Edge got the puck into Valley Union's zone where Saari scored her second goal of the contest. Heleniak and Linssen got the assists.
"Just little burst of energy where (it was) up and down the ice. That was a goal to get pucks to the net and get down there, work for rebounds and I think we had two rebound goals tonight, one was a shorty that we broke loose on," coach Roeser said. "Getting pucks to the net and this is a really good goaltender. I mean (Wagner-Durr) faced a lot of shots too much like we do throughout a season and she's really good goaltender and I'm happy to get four goals on her."
Valley Union didn't go away. With 7:03 left in the period, Valley Union's Ella Beilke tied the game at 3. Cashmer got the assist.
The Edge outshot Wisconsin Valley Union 27-25 in the contest.
Northern Edge 7, Medford 2
The Edge started its winning streak Monday night. Heleniak had four goals and three assists, and the Edge used four unanswered second-period goals to get by Medford 7-2 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
The Edge jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Raiders banged home a pair of rebound goals late in the first period, but the Edge scored twice in the first 3:32 of the second period and tacked on two more late in the period to secure the win.
"We're not as consistent as we need to be. We'll need to clean that up for Friday for sure," coach Roeser said. "I'm glad we put some pucks away on (Medford goalie Alyssa Brandner). We struggled with that last game. Last game we had a five-minute stretch where really banged all of our goals. We spread it out a little more today and we needed that win. I'm happy about."
Prior to Monday, the Edge's other win this season was a 6-0 victory at Medford Jan. 13. In that game the Edge scored all six of its goals in the second period, including five in the final 3:37 of the period.
Heleniak got things started 2:49 into the contest as she threw a puck on net from the right end line that found its way past Brandner. Heleniak scored again on the power play at the 6:58 mark on a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle.
Linssen made it 3-0 as she fired one off the post and in off the right faceoff circle midway through the period, but the Raiders answered back with goals by Grace Schmidtfranz and Emily Kiselicka less than two minutes apart. Both were rebound goals off shots from defender Sophia Brunner.
"Our defense got tired. We turned two pucks over, our defensemen did, with blind passes that came off," Roeser said. "It got to their points and our wings didn't get in the lane to block the shot and then our defensemen didn't get the sticks up for rebounds. That's what happens when we're playing tired. Unfortunately we're playing with three defensemen right now because we have one injury (Emalee Detienne)."
Medford's Jaydon Machon took a tripping penalty just 36 seconds into the second period and the Edge took advantage as Gironella scored from the blue line at the 1:03 mark. Heleniak completed her hat trick on a backhander 3:32 into the period and tacked on one more for good measure on a breakaway at the 10:02 mark. While on the penalty kill, Heleniak intercepted a pass at her own blue line, skated the rest of the way and converted the short-handed goal.
Heleniak also assisted on Mackenzie Wissbroecker's shot that deflected off the inside of the right goal post and in at the 13-minute mark of the second to round out her seven-point night.
"I'm getting used to it," coach Roeser said. "She's all over the place. She works her tail off every shift and she's good with the puck. There's probably some nights where she could have eight, nine points because that's what she does for us. She creates a lot of offense."
The teams played to a scoreless third period despite three power play chances for the Edge. Shots were 48-15 in favor of the Edge in the contest. Stank stopped 13 pucks in the win.
Superior for playoffs
Prior to Monday's game, the Edge learned that is was in for a long road trip to begin the WIAA tournament. The team drew the sixth seed, ahead of Medford, in a seven-team regional bracket and will play at third-seeded Superior Thursday, Feb. 17.
Central Wisconsin (18-3-0) earned the top seed and a first round bye. Hayward (15-8-0) drew the No. 2 seed, followed by Superior (7-16-0) and Northland Pines (8-8-0). Wisconsin Valley Union (3-18-0) was saddled with the No. 5 seed.
Tom Roeser said he tried to challenge Wisconsin Valley Union for the fifth spot, which would have earned his team a much shorter road trip to Northland Pines, but it was to no avail.
The Edge and Wisconsin Valley Union twice postponed their matchup against each other prior to Tuesday's meeting, due to health and safety protocols.
Tuesday's win over Valley Union came two days too late for the Edge's seeding purposes.
"Not having the head-to-head with them (prior to the seeding meeting, hurt)," he said. "It was pretty much where I thought it'd be. I figured it was going to be Superior or Hayward. Thursday night trip to Superior, but if we would have picked up a few more wins this year maybe I could have changed that, but we didn't."
The Edge closes the regular season tonight against Arrowhead in Antigo.
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