January 24, 2022 at 10:08 a.m.

Hodag hockey blasts Shawano 8-0

Critical week for RHS in GNC ahead
Hodag hockey blasts Shawano 8-0
Hodag hockey blasts Shawano 8-0

By Jeremy [email protected]

The Rhinelander High School boys' hockey team took care of business and won its fourth straight game Saturday afternoon, knowing its most daunting stretch of hockey looms just around the corner.

Leo Losch scored three goals and Caleb Shefveland recorded 19 saves as the Hodags shutout Shawano/Bonduel/Clintonville 8-0 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.

The Hodags (12-4-0) broke the game open thanks to a six-goal second period and outshot the Hawks 59-19 in the contest.

Rhinelander experimented with its line combinations in the contest, grouping its three top scorers on the season - Losch, Joey Belanger and Cal Laggis - together on the same line. That group accounted for five of Rhinelander's goals on Saturday and eight points overall.

Whether that will be a combination the Hodags use going forward remains to be seen.

"We did some good things," coach M.J. Laggis said. "That line of Leo and Cal and Joe was buzzing all over the place. They didn't convert much early on, but they did throughout the game and that's a potent group.

"I don't know what we're going to do. Joey is such a nice center, just playing center on his own line. I don't know what we're going to do. We're going to talk to the kids and make a decision together."

The new line generated chances right from the start and put the Hodags on the board 5:13 into the contest. Belanger hit the goalpost on a 3-on-1 breakaway chance, but Rhinelander maintained control of the puck and cycled it around to defenseman Sam Schneider, who found Losch on the back door for a redirection goal.

That was it for the Hodags in the first, despite putting 19 shots on goal. The floodgates finally opened against sophomore goalie Dylan Prochaska in the second period. Belanger got it started with a drive off the right faceoff circle 2:11 into the period and then the Hodags caught a break as Gavin Denis was credited with a goal at the 3:59 mark. Prochaska made a kick save on a tip-in attempt by Carter Detienne, but the rebound deflected off a Shawano defenseman's skate and back into the net.

Cal Laggis followed with the most impressive goal of the night, winning a race to the top of the crease for a loose puck off a faceoff and flipping it over Prochaska while falling to the ice over a defenseman.

Losch and Layne Roeser scored 40 seconds apart with less than seven minutes remaining in the period and Finn Tulowitzky added a goal with 12 seconds remaining in the period on a deflection off the shaft of his stick in front of the net.

"Finn's goal, that was just going to the net hard for a rebound, which we talk about all the time," coach Laggis said. "Carter had a nice game tonight and Gavin Denis, he's one of those kids where he grows and improves weekly."

Losch completed his hat trick 6:50 into the third, giving him 24 goals on the season.

Shefveland, meanwhile, stopped all 19 pucks he faced and earned his first career shutout.

"He kept us in there a couple of times when we faltered and I was really happy for him," coach Laggis said. "The locker room was pumped up. They wanted him to get a shutout. It's a pretty good testament to what kind of kid you are when you do something like that and your teammates are happier than you are."

In an oddity, there were no penalties called in the contest, though the physicality of the game seemed to escalate in the second and third periods. Coach Laggis said his team did a good job of not taking matters into its own hands when apparent infractions went uncalled.

"I was really happy we didn't retaliate," he said. "There were a couple of situations there where there were the kind of hits that I thought were a penalty but, at any rate, we didn't retaliate. We kept our composure and that was a big focus of ours tonight, and I was really pleased with that."

Rhinelander enters a pivotal final week of the GNC regular season after which it could land anywhere from the first to the fifth seed for the upcoming conference tournament. Rhinelander currently sits a half game behind Mosinee and Lakeland for first in the conference, and travels to Mosinee tonight. The Hodags would need a win, plus a win Thursday at home against Antigo and a Lakeland loss to Waupaca on Friday to earn the No. 1 seed.

Rhinelander has not won at the Mosinee Rec. Center since Dec. 5, 2017 - a streak that includes last year's WIAA sectional final loss to Lakeland.

"I've had everything broken in there, even my heart," coach Laggis said. "That can be a place of heartache, no doubt about it. We've talked about our team growing and improving. We keep that mantra going.

"Mosinee's going to be a tough customer. We've got to go there in a hostile environment. You're not going to have a more hostile environment than going to Mosinee or going to Lakeland. You know that. Those are tough places to play. We've got to grow as a group. We've got to get faster and we've got to try and shut down their speed."

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].

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