January 31, 2022 at 9:56 a.m.
Hodag hockey claims GNC 2-seed despite OT loss to Antigo
RHS bounces back to beat Hayward in non-conference play
Hodag hockey claims GNC 2-seed despite OT loss to Antigo
Frank Volpentesta scored 5:09 into overtime as Antigo upended Rhinelander 6-5 Thursday at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. The Hodags needed a pair of goals over the final 1:50 of regulation by Layne Roeser with an extra attacker to force overtime, and earn an additional conference point in the regular season standings.
That was enough for Rhinelander to claim the No. 2 seed by a point over Mosinee and two points over Antigo, which would have vaulted all the way up to the second seed if it had held on to win in regulation.
Rhinelander faces Medford tonight to open the conference tournament, but getting the second seed was of little consolation to coach Laggis following Thursday's game.
"It's hard right now to see that," he said. "I'm just in disbelief that we got outworked the way we got outworked the first half of that hockey game. I thought the second half of the second period was much better. The third period, we let up and came back extremely strong at the end."
Volpentesta, Calvin Jansen and Paden Michalik each scored two goals for the Red Robins (13-6-1, 4-2-1-0 GNC), who earned their eighth-straight win. Leo Losch recorded a hat trick for Rhinelander, including a game-tying power play goal at the 7:55 mark of the third period, but the Hodags saw a five-game winning streak snapped.
A pair of penalties loomed large for Rhinelander as the Robins retook the lead late in the third. Michalik scored on the man-advantage at the 10:52 mark after defenseman Dalton Fritz was taken to the box on a tripping call. Joey Belanger was called for interference a short time later and, though Rhinelander technically killed off the penalty, the Robins were in the midst of a five-shot flurry as the penalty expired. Rhinelander was never able to regroup and Jansen finally banged home a rebound to put Antigo up two with 2:52 remaining.
"When we were in the short-handed situation, I didn't have the guys I wanted out there, and that's when they scored that goal to go ahead," coach Laggis said. "On the flip side of that is we wouldn't have had the timeout when we needed it to pull our goalie at the end of the game."
Rhinelander used its timeout with 2:12 remaining in front of an offensive zone faceoff to pull goalie Garrett Kulhanek in favor of an extra attacker. The move paid off as Roeser scored on a screened shot from the top of the right faceoff circle with 1:50 left to cut the lead to one.
Rhinelander won the ensuing faceoff and set up in the Antigo zone, allowing Kulhanek to skate away from his cage again. Sam Schneider blocked a 3-on-1 chance after Antigo was able to clear the zone and Rhinelander eventually got one last chance on a faceoff with 10 seconds left.
The Hodags cycled the puck around to Roeser, who buried a wrist shot top shelf from the left faceoff circle with 3.1 seconds left to force overtime.
"We scored twice with a pulled goaltender, which doesn't happen, and got to overtime," coach Laggis said. "Layne's a clutch guy in that way. It was clutch to bring that back."
The Hodags outshot Antigo 9-6 in the extra session, but the Robins won three successive draws in the Rhinelander zone and Volpentesta finally scored on a loose puck in the slot with 2:51 remaining in the first overtime.
"We dominated the overtime until Antigo scored and that was their one chance," coach Laggis said. "We didn't do enough to win and they did do enough to win. We've got to learn and grow from it."
Volpentesta got the scoring started 3:04 into the game, before Losch tied it up at the 8:34 mark. Jansen finished a 2-on-1 chance at the 13:55 mark to give Antigo a 2-1 lead after a period.
Michalik scored from the blue line 2:01 into the second before Losch answered on a backhander at the 6:04 mark as the Robins led 3-2 after two periods.
"Antigo absolutely outworked us in the first part of that game," coach Laggis said. "They were strong on the puck. They did all the things we talked about them doing. They exploited the middle on our D and we knew they were going to do that and they just played gritty, scrappy hockey and they chipped pucks out. They knew exactly what they were going to do."
Sophomore Nolan Bunnell stopped 47 shots for Antigo as Rhinelander outshot the Robins 52-35 overall. Kulhanek made 29 saves in defeat for Rhinelander.
Rhinelander 5, Hayward 2
The Hodags bounced back thanks to another big third-period rally on Saturday. Rhinelander scored four goals in the third, including two from Belanger, as they got past Hayward 5-2 at the Hayward Sports Center.
Trailing 2-1 after two periods, Roeser tied it on the power play 1:33 into the third. Belanger gave Rhinelander the lead at the 5:59 mark and added an insurance goal at the 11:58 mark.
Losch scored twice in the game, including an empty-netter with 1:05 remaining. Both Belanger (31) and Losch (30) have now eclipsed the 30-goal mark on the season.
"We just came on in the third. We played really well," coach Laggis said.
Hayward struck first on a Ryland Achtor goal 7:11 into the contest, but Losch answered 53 seconds later to tie the contest.
The Hodags outshot the Hurricanes 15-2 in the second period, but Hayward won the period 1-0 on a Jackson Phillips score at the 11:33 mark.
Hayward struggled for offense with only six shots total over the final 34 minutes. Rhinelander outshot the Hurricanes 44-12 in the contest.
For Rhinelander, the challenge was beating Hayward goalie Logan Abric, who entered the contest with a state-best .944 save percentage.
"He is a tremendous goalie. He's really good," Laggis said. "Hayward had a few kids out today, mostly injured. The were a little similar to how we were in that November tournament where they we're a little banged up. It was to our advantage today."
Caleb Shefveland made 11 saves in victory for Rhinelander.
GNC tournament ahead
The Hodags (14-5-0, 5-1-0-1 Great Northern) were locked into the No. 2 seed when Lakeland defeated Waupaca 7-0 Friday night in Minocqua. The Hodags needed a Waupaca regulation win to leapfrog the Thunderbirds for the top seed in the conference tournament.
Lakeland, as the top seed, hosts Northland Pines tonight. Mosinee wound up the No. 3 seed and will host Tomahawk. Antigo hosts Waupaca in the 4-5 matchup.
Rhinelander is already 2-0 this season against Medford, tonight's opponent, winning the games by a combined 23-3.
A rematch with Mosinee next Tuesday is possible in the GNC semifinals if both teams take care of business tonight. After Thursday's game, coach Laggis said he hopes the team will use the sting of the overtime letdown to Antigo to fuel its upcoming tournament runs.
"We've got to get that flow going, win a hockey game in our building Tuesday no matter who it's against and go from there in the conference tournament," he said. "We have to take it one day at a time. Coach (Wil) Losch put it best in the locker room. You've got to let this sting, because it does sting badly, and move on from it."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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