February 21, 2022 at 8:13 a.m.
Hodag hockey survives and advances
Rhinelander fends off Tomahawk, earns sectional rematch against Mosinee
Hodag hockey survives and advances
Joey Belanger scored twice and a flurry of goals early in the second period proved to be just enough cushion as the Hodags held off the Hatchets 5-4 in a WIAA Division 2 regional final game at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Rhinelander advances to the sectional semifinal round of the D2 tournament for a third straight year and will host third-seeded Mosinee tonight at the RIA.
"A win is a win at this time of year," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "I was just ticked off because I didn't think we played a really good third but, in the end, you've got to let it go. We held on. We got the win and we get to practice a couple of days and we've got to play a whole lot better if we're going to compete with Mosinee on Tuesday."
The Hodags heavily outshot the Hatchets, 41-17, but Tomahawk proved opportunistic. Caleb Dickens and Austin Lamer each scored twice, with Lamer's second goal pulling the Hatchets within one with 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining.
"I give credit to Tomahawk. They played an absolute aggressive, fast-paced game," coach Laggis said. "They got the puck long on us a lot. As much as we talked about them getting the puck long, they were still successful in doing it and created a lot of odd-man rushes and some pucks went in we don't want to go in. Give them credit. They played really hard and really gutty."
Rhinelander scored three times in a span of 1 minute, 27 seconds early in the second period, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
Leo Losch scored his team-leading 38th goal of the season at the 3:05 mark of the second off assists from line mates Cal Laggis and Gavin Denis. Sam Schneider scored 32 seconds later on a blast from the left point off a feed from Belanger and Rhinelander finished the flurry at the 4:32 mark as Cal Laggis finished from the right side of the crease off an extra pass from Losch after Cody Everson fired the puck in from the point.
"We got some good stuff generated right there and it's a good thing we did because, without it, we wouldn't have pulled that out," coach Laggis said. "It was a good flurry. It was good pressure."
Dickens got Tomahawk back to within a goal, converting a 2-on-1 chance at the 7:59 mark of the period. From there, Rhinelander did everything in its power to preserve a two-goal lead.
The Hodags had a 36-7 edge in shots through two periods, but played with a more defensive-minded philosophy in the third, running a neutral zone trap and keeping the third forward high in the offensive zone in an effort to prevent any odd-man rushes from the Hatchets.
"We didn't play it very well tonight," coach Laggis said. "We were in the 1-2-2 (trap) and had a rebound chance and we just backed up and let them leave the zone. We just had a couple of those plays that we'd really like back. They did a really good job of creating (odd-man rushes) on us and we didn't do a particularly good job of taking that away and they took advantage of it."
Tomahawk pulled goalie Trevor Seliskar with roughly 1:30 remaining, down two goals, and did not take long to halve the lead after Lamer banged home a rebound in the slot off a hard initial shot from Zach Friske. Seliskar left his cage again with a minute left, but Tomahawk was unable to tie it with an extra attacker.
Tomahawk had an answer for Rhinelander each time the Hodags looked to seize control early in the contest. The teams were tied at 1 following one period and at 2 prior to the Hodags' early second-period outburst.
Belanger put the Hodags ahead on the power play at the 9:41 mark of the first, but Lamer answered back with a power play goal of his own at the 11:53 mark. Belanger scored again, flipping a shot just over Seliskar's glove 1:13 into the second, but Dickens replied with a screened shot from the left faceoff circle that got by Rhinelander goalie Garrett -- just 44 seconds later.
The Hatchets had only two shots on goal in the first, and Dickens' score was Tomahawk's first shot of the second period, yet the Hodags found themselves tied.
"Early in the game we give up three shots and there's two in the back of the net," coach Laggis said. "We gave them a lot of momentum right there. We just did. We let them get a lot of momentum going. When you do that, you're going to have your hands full all night long, and we did.
"We outshot them dramatically but, the score, we're hanging on by our teeth at the end."
Rhinelander advances to tonight's sectional semifinal round where it will have its third meeting with Mosinee, the team that won the Great Northern Conference tournament. Rhinelander knocked off Mosinee on the road 6-3 Jan. 25, but the Indians returned the favor, routing the Hodags 8-2 in the GNC tournament semifinals two weeks ago at the RIA.
"Mosinee's a transition team, just stacked with speed and talent - and I mean stacked with speed and talent. We've seen it. We're going to have to play a really better game all around," Laggis said. "It's a matter of us believing we can do it and we're going to have to do some things different with our trap. We're going to have to really hone in on that Sunday and Monday at practice. We're going to have to move our feet and play a little looser."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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