March 21, 2022 at 7:51 a.m.
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
Hodag hockey sets win record despite adversity
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
The Hodags went 18-7-0 this season, and while they did not repeat their Great Northern Conference championship or their WIAA sectional final appearance from last season, they had to work for everything they earned this season.
Injuries and adversity faced the team literally from the start of the season, but the team managed to win some big games, finish third in the GNC and make the sectional semifinals of the WIAA tournament for the third straight year.
"The seniors battled hard all year. I want to go back to (the fact) that 18 wins is a great season," coach M.J. Laggis said after his team was eliminated by Mosinee in the WIAA playoffs.
Here are five storylines from this year's season.
Injury woes
When summing up his team following a preseason scrimmage, coach Laggis delivered a line that proved to be extremely prophetic.
"I feel like we have a group that can be really, really competitive. At the same time, we're just one injury, one sickness, one guy missing away from being in trouble," he said.
A few days later, the Hodags dealt with an injury to one of its best players.
Joe Schneider, the team's leading scorer during the 2020-21 season, was injured in the third period of the team's season opener Nov. 23 against Ashland. He reinjured the same left knee that sidelined him out for the entire football season this past fall.
First feared lost for the year, Schneider opted to rehab the injury and returned to the lineup Dec. 23 against Tomahawk, scoring twice in a 5-3 win. He scored once more in a rematch against the Hatchets Dec. 29 before disaster struck again. Schneider injured the same knee a third time at practice Jan. 2 and opted to have season-ending surgery.
The Hodags dealt with a number of other injuries and illnesses at the start of the season, and struggled to field three full lines much of the year. Yet the team still found a way to win 18 games, which coach Laggis credited to the development of his players.
"You lose Joe Schneider going into the year and Joe Schneider is just one of the backbones of that team, just motor all the time," he said. "I'm not gonna say, 'Oh, we just went on without Joe. It was no problem.' We fought and scrapped and found a way to keep going, wishing we had Joe. That forced guys to step up and play and do things they might not have done (otherwise)."
Thrilling games
Rhinelander had a few standout performances over the course of the year - including an overtime victory at Marshfield and some strong non-conference wins - but two games stick out from the season.
One of those Rhinelander did not even win.
The Hodags secured their biggest win of the season Jan. 25 on the road at Mosinee as they scored three unanswered goals early against the preseason conference favorites and went on to a 6-3 victory in a rematch of last season's GNC tournament championship game won by Rhinelander.
That put Rhinelander in position to secure one of the top two seeds in the Great Northern Conference tournament two nights later against Antigo.
Those prospects looked bleak as the Hodags trailed the Red Robins 5-3 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, but a pair goals by defenseman Layne Roeser with the goaltender pulled - the last coming with 3.1 seconds to play - sent the game into overtime.
Though Rhinelander lost in the extra session, forcing the game into overtime gave the Hodags an additional conference point and locked up the No. 2 seed for the GNC tournament. Rhinelander also earned the No. 2 seed for the WIAA playoffs, in part, due to the effort.
Tough losses
Mosinee would get the last laugh on Rhinelander, however, defeating the Hodags 8-2 in the Great Northern Conference tournament and 7-1 in the WIAA playoffs.
Rhinelander could not keep pace in either contest.
"We had about four, five guys that showed up with nails in their boots and were ready to go and we had some guys that really didn't come out, really didn't answer the bell they way they needed to," coach Laggis said after the playoff loss to Mosinee.
Aside from the upset win over Mosinee, that was a trend for Rhinelander this year against strong competition. Four of Rhinelander's seven losses this season came against teams - Mosinee (twice), Lakeland and Amery - that reached the sectional finals of the WIAA tournament. The Hodags were outscored by a combined 27-6 in those four games.
Rhinelander's three other losses on the season all occurred in overtime.
Statbook
With Joe Schneider out, three players stood out and handled the bulk of the scoring load for the Hodags.
Linemates Leo Losch and Cal Laggis finished with 71 and 60 points on the season, respectively. Losch, a junior, had a team-high 38 goals while Cal Laggis led the team with 44 assists.
"I think that Leo, Cal and (fellow linemate) Gavin (Denis) when they're humming are as good as any line that we've been around," coach Laggis said.
Sophomore Joey Belanger, who would have likely been on the same line this season with Joe Schneider, also had a big season - finishing with 37 goals and 64 total points. He led the team with 14 power play goals this season.
Defensively, Roeser and Sam Schneider both proved to be strong two-way threats. Roeser finished with 15 goals and 21 assists on the year while the younger of the Schneider brothers had eight goals and 19 assists.
As they did each of the previous two seasons, seniors Garrett Kulhanek and Caleb Shefveland split the goaltending duties for the Hodags, with Kulhanek seeing the lion's share of the minutes. Kulhanek went 11-4-0 with a 3.10 goals against average, a .867 save percentage and two shutouts. Shefveland was 7-3-0 with a 2.59 goals against average, a .883 save percentage and two shutouts.
"Our two goaltenders, there's no other program where you could have two senior goalies that share the net," coach Laggis said. "Neither one of them got quite as much (playing time) as they wanted. That's the nature of that. Instead of arguing or fighting or having that kind of stuff, they were absolutely first-class in there."
What's next
Goaltender and overall team depth will likely be the biggest questions marks facing the Hodags next year.
The Hodags did carry four goalies this year, but underclassmen Tyler Kimmerling and Johnny Turek saw less than one game's worth of minutes between them this season.
Rhinelander graduates only three other seniors - Cal Laggis, Joe Schneider and Carter Detienne.
The team is slated to bring back seven of its top eight scorers - Losch, Belanger, Roeser, Sam Schneider, Denis, Finn Tulowitzky and AJ Turek.
"We bring back a lot of scoring. We bring back five defensemen that can really be a force if they're healthy and ready to rock all year. That's a huge strength," coach Laggis said. "You have two goalies that are great kids and great in the locker room. They both have to develop their goaltending game, and I think they well. On paper, we can bring two really strong lines, it will be can we develop the third line."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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