Hodag hockey splits games at Amery tourney

The Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team took its lumps against one of the top Division 2 programs in the state last Friday, but bounced back Saturday to salvage a split of its games in the Amery Holiday Tournament.

The hosting Warriors, who finished last season at No. 2 in the final Wisconsin Prep Hockey Division 2 poll, defeated the Hodags 12-1 on Friday night. Rhinelander rebounded Saturday with goals by four different players in a 4-1 victory over St. Paul Johnson (Minn.). 

Though the Hodags sat 2-1-0 through their first three games, coach M.J. Laggis said Rhinelander still has plenty of work to do, especially in the defensive zone. 

“We’ve got to be able to find ourselves when the pressure is on,” he said. “A sign of a team that doesn’t know how to deal with pressure is you just throw the puck somewhere and don’t know where it’s going. We’re doing that a lot — backhand, slapping it up the boards right to their defensemen or just panicked and throwing it the middle of the zone and then it’s right back on your goalie. The big takeaway there is we have to work a lot on handling the puck under pressure, taking it to safe areas and protecting the house area in front of the net.”

Amery was able to exploit Rhinelander’s inexperience, especially on the blue line, Friday night. The Warriors scored the first three goals and led 3-1 after a period. 

Amery then tacked on six more goals in the second period, and three in the third — outshooting the Hodags 40-21 in the process. 

“Amery was very good, pretty physical,” Laggis said. “They’re a really good hockey team, and they just overwhelmed us in the offensive zone — ton of pressure, ton of shots. We were just not able to really handle their speed and pressure.”

Vincent Greene had a big night for Amery with three goals and three assists while Fredrik Henningsgard scored Amery’s final tally of the second period, and first of the third. Seven other players got into act for Amery as the Warriors controlled play. 

Gavin Denis tallied Rhinelander’s lone goal, scoring on the power play off an assist by Jack Turek late in the first period. 

Tyler Kimmerling made 17 saves over the first two periods for Rhinelander. He was relieved in goal in the third period by freshman Asher Rivord who made 11 stops in 14 chances. 

Despite getting outshot 29-24 on Saturday, including a 13-3 disparity in the first period, the Hodags led wire to wire against St. Paul Johnson. Rhinelander led 4-0 after two periods before the Governors scored on a power play midway through the third. 

“Today we came back, and we played a decent game,” Laggis said. “They’re a similar team to us. We’re a little bit more experienced than them. It was tight early on, and then we were able to put some goals away in the second period.”

Defenseman Dalton Fritz put the Hodags on the board with an individual effort late in the first period. He stole the puck at the top of the faceoff circle in his own zone, skated down the right-side boards before crashing the net and finishing with a backhander. 

“It was just phenomenal handling the puck and a beautiful move right at the goal mouth and put it home. That was a really nice goal,” Laggis said. 

The second period was bookended by a pair of Hodags scoring their first career varsity goals. Junior Van Tulowitzky was stationed on the back door for a finish after Joey Belanger redirected a centering pass from the corner by Zach Edyvean at the 7:33 mark of the period. After Edyvean poked home a Belanger rebound on the power play at the 10:26 mark, junior Karter Massey notched his first goal as he came open through the slot on a puck chipped in from the point by defender Logan Leonard. 

“I was really excited for those guys to get their first-ever goals,” Laggis said. “Van’s was a nice pass to the back door, and he buried it. Then Karter Massey followed a shot and got a nice rebound goal.”

The Hodags held on down the stretch, despite being depleted a bit by injury and absence. The team moved Belanger, its leading scorer from last year, to defense down the stretch to help stabilize the blue line. 

“We were just as thin as thin can be, running the wheels off Gavin Denis and Joey,” Laggis said. “We just finally moved Joey back and tried to settle things down back there. Him and Dalton Fritz played the majority of the last six, seven minutes, defensively.”

Kimmerling went the distance in goal for Rhinelander, making 28 saves in a winning effort. 

Rhinelander was scheduled to face Tomahawk on the road Thursday night in the Great Northern Conference opener, which concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Hodags are back in action Tuesday with a non-conference game at Pacelli.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].