February 1, 2023 at 1:46 p.m.
Double Eagle
RHS scores back-to-back wins over Northland Pines as GNC tourney begins
Double Eagle
Rhinelander recovered from a slow start to defeat Northland Pines 9-5 Monday night in the final game of the GNC regular season. That set up a rematch between the two teams Tuesday night at the Rhinelander Ice Arena to start the Great Northern Conference tournament. The Hodags won that contest 4-1.
The unique scheduling twist was created due to the fact that Rhinelander and Northland Pines twice had their regular season meeting postponed due to inclement weather.
After a streak that saw the Hodags go winless against the Eagles between 1992 and 2019, Rhinelander has now earned six straight victories over Northland Pines, dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season.
"It's really hard to play a team two days in a row, hard to beat them two days in a row," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "You look at the history of what Northland Pines had done to Rhinelander over the years, it's been just as tilted as it can be. We've had our way here now the last six, seven games and that's awesome."
Barring an overtime or shootout victory for the Hodags on Monday night, the Rhinelander-Pines rematch was almost a certainty. However, earning both wins in regulation kept the Hodags in control of their own destiny in the conference title race. Rhinelander entered the conference tournament only three points behind GNC co-leaders Lakeland and Mosinee. If the Hodags can make a run to the tournament title, they will earn at least a share of the overall conference championship.
That didn't look likely at one point Monday night as Northland Pines led 2-1 after a period at the Eagle River Sports Arena, and then tacked on two more goals early in the second period. But Rhinelander erupted for seven unanswered goals to put that game away and then dominated Tuesday's rematch, outshooting the Eagles 48-8.
The Hodags had a 21-1 edge in shots during the first period alone Tuesday night, but had very little to show for their efforts until late. Rhinelander got on the board with a Leo Losch short-handed goal at the 14:08 mark of the period and then Sam Schneider fired one home with 0.8 seconds remaining in the stanza to make it 2-0.
Losch's goal came as Layne Roeser - who later scored a pair of power play goals - intercepted a pass at the Northland Pines blue line, creating a 2-on-1 rush toward the Eagles' cage. Schneider then let a wrist shot fly from the top of the circles that beat goalie Eli Kerner and the end-of-period buzzer to double the lead.
"I thought in the first period we played really, really well," Laggis said. "Even though it was 2-0, you went in the locker room and felt kind of easy in the fact that we were playing really fast, moving the puck well and generating a lot of shots."
Roeser made it 3-0 on the power play at 10:49 in the second before the Hodags ran into their lone spot of bother for the evening. Finn Tulowitzky was called for a major slashing penalty and Roeser was whistled for interference just four seconds apart late in the second. Pines needed only six seconds on the 5-on-3 to score as Anderson Kielty fired in from the top of the right circle, and the Hodags took a 3-1 lead into the third.
"I think when you play two games of that intensity back-to-back like that, you're going to see letdowns," Laggis said. "I think you saw a big letdown with them in the first. I think you saw a big letdown with us in the second, frankly. That's the way it is."
Rhinelander killed off the remaining 3:44 of Tulowitzky's major to start the third period and then Roeser scored again on the power play at the 6:28 mark to put the game out of reach.
"We had a couple good power play looks and the shorties always help," Laggis said. "Scoring a shorty is a big momentum lift. Leo Losch is a senior the just works his tail off and I can't say enough about him tonight on the penalty kill. He and Gavin Denis were outstanding on the penalty kill. Joey Belanger had a nice third period, starting to control that puck."
Tyler Kimmerling made seven saves in the win for Rhinelander. That was after the junior came on in relief Monday night and stopped 27 of Northland Pines' final 28 shots as the Hodags rallied from behind in Eagle River.
Johnny Turek stopped 11 of 15 shots to start the game and came out after a sequence where Brett Wielhouwer scored on the back door after the puck caromed free in the crease and Griffen Kenning scored off a faceoff to make it 4-1 4:57 into the second period.
"We moved Kimmerling into the game. It wasn't Johnny's fault. We were trying to change momentum," Laggis noted. "We had just (allowed) a couple of freak goals ... We were just trying to get the team cranked and get momentum changed and that kind of a thing and we were able to do that."
Momentum changed shortly thereafter as AJ Turek got free on a breakaway and scored at the 5:21 mark of the period. Rhinelander then killed off a full two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play before Losch scored at the 11:09 mark and the floodgates opened. Roeser, Belanger and Tulowitzky all scored after that as Rhinelander jumped in front 6-4 with 2:04 to play in the period.
"Had they scored there (on the 5-on-3) and made it 5-2, I feel like it would have been a different game, but we were able to kill that and, just as that expired, we popped one," Laggis said. "That really was a big momentum change."
Roeser, Zach Edyvean and Belanger all scored in the third period for the Hodags. Losch had Rhinelander's lone first-period goal as the Hodags won despite being outshot 49-33.
"It was a hard-fought game," Laggis said. "It really was. There was a ton of physicality. Two teams fought really, really hard. They had their way early and then we were able to get going offensively, get a lead and hang at the end."
Tuesday night's win set up a rematch with Mosinee this Tuesday in the GNC semifinals down in Mosinee. The Hodags lost at Mosinee 7-2 in regular season play back on Jan. 12.
"I'm really excited to try to get a crack at Mosinee again. We've got to play a better game," Laggis said. "We've got to go in there and compete harder for 51 minutes. That's our main deal, compete, not let them get away on odd-man rushes."
The Hodags had two more games prior to the Mosinee rematch. Rhinelander faced Pacelli last night at the RIA in a game that concluded after press time for today's edition. Rhinelander will travel to Ashland for another non-conference game Saturday night.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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