Hodag hockey falls at Marshfield 4-1

The Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team once again found itself in a tight game in the third period on Thursday night, but was unable to come away with a win.

The bottom didn’t fall out on the Hodags this time, but Marshfield steadily pulled away and knocked off Rhinelander 4-1 on the road.

With five players scratched from the lineup for various reasons, Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said it was another case of his team running out of gas in the third period.

“We’re playing really short-handed. We’re really playing 2 1/2 lines between the guys that couldn’t play tonight or are gone or sick or whatever,” he said. “It’s all symptomatic of not playing enough guys, and we’re not playing enough guys because we don’t have them.”

The Hodags trailed 2-1 until roughly the midway point of the third when Joey Cashmer took a defensive zone faceoff and went end-to-end with it. A slip by the Hodag defense led to a 2-on-0 chance that Cashmer converted at the 8:05 mark of the period. 

Marshfield’s leading scorer Tyler Reissmann scored twice on the night, including an empty-netter with 1:20 remaining when the Hodags struggled to get a sixth attacker on the ice after pulling goaltender Tyler Kimmerling.

“We got Kimmy off, but couldn’t get a guy out the forward goal. So we had a pulled goalie and gave up a goal with five guys on the ice. It’s just one of the craziest scenarios I’ve ever had,” Laggis said.

After a scoreless first period, Marshfield took the lead as Jack Mattila scored on a screened shot in the slot 6:35 into the period. The Hodags answered a short time later on Timber Cronauer’s second goal of the season at the 7:57 mark. He was stationed down low and in position for a redirect after Dylan Shefveland threw a backhander toward the net. 

“Dylan had a good, hard-working shift, moved the puck in the general area of the net. It went off a defenseman and Timber just followed the puck,” Laggis said. “It’s was of those ugly goals that was beautiful. It gave us a lot of momentum, made it 1-1 and we really were playing well.”

Reissmann gave Marshfield the lead at the 14:17 mark of the period, banging home a rebound off a Zak Meyer shot from the point. 

Marshfield’s Reed Gieseking made 25 saves as the Hodags had a hard time finishing scoring chances. 

“We played good and we played gutty. We had a lot of chances,” Laggis said. “We ran yet another fly play we couldn’t convert on that worked. We had some good rebound opportunities, had some good things happen, but it’s just we find a way in the third period to have it not go right and it’s just frustrating, really frustrating.”

Kimmerling made 25 saves in the loss for Rhinelander. Penalties also hindered the Hodags’ depth on Thursday. Rhinelander was penalized five times for 10 minutes, compared to only two penalties for the Tigers.

“We killed penalties nice but we’re so thin that we kill a penalty and then the effects of that penalty come a few shifts later when you’re just gassing the guys that are trying to kill the penalty. We got scored on twice like that tonight, frankly,” Laggis said.

Rhinelander (3-6-0, 0-3-0-0 Great Northern) is idle until Jan. 4 when it returns to Great Northern Conference play on the road at Medford. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].