February 6, 2023 at 9:07 a.m.
Hodag hockey picks up wins over Pacelli, Ashland
Hodag hockey picks up wins over Pacelli, Ashland
The Hodags put away from Stevens Point Pacelli 5-2 on Thursday night at the Rhinelander Ice Arena before traveling north Saturday night and skating out of Ashland with a 4-1 win over the Oredockers.
Despite outshooting both teams by more than a 2-to-1 margin, the Hodags had to deal with leads of two goals or less in the third period of both contests before finally tacking on some insurance and scoring the win.
Regardless, the Hodags (15-4-0) ran their latest winning streak to five games ahead of a big showdown tonight at Mosinee in the Great Northern Conference tournament, and had some fun doing it.
"I tell you what, that was probably the funnest hockey game I've been involved with this year," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said after Saturday night's win at Ashland. "We just had a locker room 100% in it to win and on board and it was a blast coaching those guys tonight - just the heart and the absolute composure. It was great to see because we're not always that way."
Rhinelander 4, Ashland 1
The Hodags outshot the Oredockers 52-14 on Saturday night but struggled to put Ashland and goaltender Liam Fish away.
Finally, a Sam Schneider goal moments into a 5-on-3 power play in the third period gave the Hodags some breathing room in a three-goal victory.
Rhinelander gave up the opening goal on Saturday night but rallied to score twice to take a 2-1 lead after a period. The Hodags could only tack on one more in the second period, despite outshooting Ashland 23-2 in the frame.
"We had a lot of chances tonight. We could have buried four or five more pucks, without a doubt," Laggis said. "There were a lot of rebounds hanging out there, but we battled and our breakouts were really, really nice tonight. We were really strong at neutral ice, making good tape-to-tape plays and smart with the puck, very few giveaways."
Gabe Kivisto gave Ashland the lead 5:49 into the contest as he took the zone and fired from the top of the circles past Rhinelander goalie Tyler Kimmerling. The Hodags answered at the 9:43 mark as Finn Tulowitzky was in position in front of the net to tip home a Joey Belanger centering pass from the corner. Defenseman Cody Everson gave Rhinelander the lead at the 13:09 mark of the period as he scored on a screened shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Overall, it was a strong night for Rhinelander's defensemen. Both Schneider and Everson scored, Roeser added an assist and Dalton Fritz, who was moved up to forward from the blue line due to some absences on Saturday, got Rhinelander's lone tally of the second period. He scored from the inside of the circles to put the Hodags up 3-1 at the 9:57 mark of the stanza.
"I just thought they were absolutely fantastic," Laggis said. "Layne had just a mitt load of chances. He didn't score tonight but Sam did, Cody did. We ran three D most of the night. We had to move Dalton up to forward because we were missing forwards and Dalton did a fantastic job up there, popping a goal and our three D were just absolutely stellar."
Belanger, Tulowitzky and Leo Losch all recorded two assists in the win.
Rhinelander 5, Pacelli 2
Rhinelander found itself tied with Pacelli for much of the second period Thursday night before pulling away. The Hodags scored four goals in an 8-minute, 20-second stretch between the second and third to eventually capture a 5-2 win.
Though Pacelli, which plays an independent schedule, is just 2-5 against the Great Northern this season, Laggis said the Hodags had their hands full on Thursday.
"I was a little taken back when the game started because I didn't think they were that fast," he said. "They were a fast team and they work hard. We've got to be ready to start a whole lot better if we play them again."
Roeser broke a 1-1 deadlock late on a 5-on-3 power play in the second period. Schneider worked the puck point-to-point and Roeser tucked a shot inside the left post with 2:15 remaining in the period.
Belanger then recorded his fourth short-handed goal of the season, and 24th overall, as he created a turnover at the Pacelli blue line and walked in for the breakaway tally at 3:59 in the third.
That kicked off a wild flurry that saw four goals scored in less than two minutes. Gavin Denis gave Rhinelander a 4-1 lead at the 4:31 mark as he kept the puck himself on a 2-on-1 chance and scored on a backhand. Pacelli answered 38 seconds later as Jacob Hasler split Rhinelander defenders through the slot and scored. Losch restored the three-goal advantage at the 5:55 mark cashing in on a 2-on-1 chance from Belanger.
Losch scored twice on the night. He put Rhinelander head on a breakaway 8:12 into the opening period as Zach Edyvean chipped is ahead off a faceoff, creating a 2-on-1 chance. Pacelli tied it on a Ben Westrick rebound goal with 31 seconds remaining in the period.
Rhinelander outshot Pacelli 45-20 in the contest. Johnny Turek made 18 saves in the win.
Up next
The Hodags were set to find out their seeding for the upcoming WIAA tournament Sunday evening in a seeding meeting that concluded after press time for today's edition. The Hodags appeared likely to slot in as the three seed in an eight-team bracket that is essentially a rehash of the Great Northern Conference tournament - with Pacelli taking Medford's spot in the draw.
The Hodags still have two more games to play in the conference tournament, beginning with tonight's rematch at Mosinee where the team will look to avenge a 7-2 loss to the Indians back on Jan. 16.
"Round 1 in Mosinee definitely didn't go how we wanted and Round 2's another opportunity for us to show growth and improvement," Laggis said. "We'll see what we can do. We've got to get in the right mindset to go in there and do some things differently than we did the first time, and we're ready to do that. We'll see if we can get a much more competitive game and get confidence going for our kids in that building."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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