January 17, 2022 at 8:19 a.m.
Hodag hockey wins East/Merrill tourney
RHS-Antigo game postponed to Jan. 27
Hodag hockey wins East/Merrill tourney
Rhinelander routed Jeffers, Mich. 6-1 Friday and then blasted Medford 14-3 on Saturday to win the title.
The games were to have been Rhinelander's fourth and fifth in a five-day stretch, but the team caught a break when Antigo was forced to postpone Thursday's GNC matchup against the Hodags due to health protocols. The game will be made up Thursday, Jan. 27.
"You never want that as a coach but this week, when that happened, it was the perfect moment for it," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "That was (going to) be a lot and we caught a break."
Rhinelander (10-4-0, 3-1-0-0 Great Northern) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period Friday night against Jeffers and scored the first five unanswered before the Jets finally got on the board late in the second period.
Though the Hodags had only a 27-16 edge in the shot count, coach Laggis said the team was in control from the start.
"I thought we played really good hockey Friday night," he said. "I thought Jeffers was going to be a really difficult game for us, and I thought we just disassembled them. We play really well."
Six different players scored for the Hodags in Friday's game while Cal Laggis tallied a career-high five assists.
Laggis fed Leo Losch to get the scoring started on a 2-on-1 breakaway 4:05 into the first and then threw the puck in front to begin a scramble that led to a Gavin Denis goal just over a minute later that put Rhinelander up 2-0.
"Cal just gave us a jump last night," coach Laggis said. "He had five assists. He was just all over the ice and played like a maniac, moving the puck like crazy and I was really proud of that. That line with Leo and Gavin and Cal, and AJ Turek mixed in, was really good."
Sam Schneider gave Rhinelander a 3-0 lead late in the first, scoring on the power play with 1:23 remaining in the period. Layne Roeser added a power play goal at the 6:56 mark of the second and Dalton Fritz scored at the 11:33 mark to give Rhinelander a 5-0 lead.
Brent Heinonen broke up the shutout on the power play late in the second period for Jeffers. It was the only puck to get past Rhinelander senior Garrett Kulhanek in 16 chances.
"Garrett, even though he didn't see a ton of shots last night, I thought he played awesome," coach Laggis said. "He had a couple of flurries in front of him. He did not have his best week of practice, at all, so I was really happy with what he did."
Belanger capped off Friday's action with a power play goal late in the third period and then added a hat trick Saturday to bring his team-leading goal total to 21 on the season.
"Joey Belanger Friday night just had a ton of chances," coach Laggis said. "Today he started pouring them in Joey Belanger-style. That line's coming on. I particularly liked how it looked with Joey and Gavin and Finn (Tulowitzky) at points today. I thought that line looked pretty sharp."
Belanger and Cal Laggis each scored three times for Rhinelander on Saturday against the Raiders. The Hodags led 5-2 after one period and then blew the game wide open with five goals in the first 7:41 of the second. Rhinelander tacked on two more goals late in the second period and another two in the third.
"We gave up two and I didn't think we were playing particularly well. Then the second we came out and jumped on them and took it to them and everything went in for a while there," coach Laggis said.
Roeser, Tulowitzky and Losch each scored twice in Saturday's game. Carter Detienne and Zach Edyvean also added goals as the Hodags outshot the Raiders 56-13.
Belanger also had four assists in the game, while Losch and Tulowitzky each had three.
Caleb Shefveland made six saves in eight chances in just under 26 minutes of action to get the win. Underclassmen goalies Tyler Kimmerling and Johnny Turek also saw ice time in the blowout, making four saves between them.
"Chevy (Shefveland) got the game today and then we were able to get Kimmy (Kimmerling) in, which is awesome, and then we got Johnny Turek 10 minutes," coach Laggis said. "It's hard when you have four goalies and you do the best you can. Luckily, we have four really good kids in that position, really unselfish kids. That's pretty lucky. That's a rarity."
Brayden Machon scored twice for Medford in the contest while Cameron Bull added a goal. The same two teams meet tonight in Medford in a Great Northern Conference contest.
"It's awesome for today, but it's hard because you've got to go to Medford on Tuesday and that's a difficult place for us to play," coach Laggis said. "We've got to grow from today, forget about it and come out flying on Tuesday."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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