January 24, 2023 at 8:13 a.m.
Hodag hockey runs into Flivver firewall, shut out 3-0
Hodag hockey runs into Flivver firewall, shut out 3-0
The junior goalie stopped all 35 shots he faced, and even assisted on a power play goal, as the Flivvers got by Rhinelander 3-0 in a non-conference contest at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Rhinelander outshot Kingsford 35-22 in the game, but a pair of power play goals proved costly as the Hodags lost their third game of the season - two of which have come via teams from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
"We put 35 shots on him and were unable to get one by him - and we had some really good looks," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "You outshoot a team like that, you'd like to thing you'd get a few by them, but we didn't. Credit to their goalie. We certainly couldn't get a puck to bounce our way and we certainly couldn't get a call to bounce our way, but that's just life. That's how it goes and we've got to learn from it."
Michael Wolfenberg scored twice early in the third period for the Flivvers to give Kingsford some breathing room. Not that they needed much with Anderson in goal. Even with an extra attacker over the final 2:22 of the contest, Rhinelander could not find a way past.
Kingsford broke a scoreless tie late in the second period with the Hodags on the penalty kill after a Cody Everson hooking call. Anderson played the puck ahead for Jaxon Buckley, who left it for Jake Crockford at the edge of the Hodag zone. Crockford skated in and beat goalie Johnny Turek glove side at the 12:26 mark.
An AJ Turek hooking penalty moments into the third led to some Kingsford insurance. Shortly after a faceoff, Kingsford fed it back to Wolfenberg, who launched a screened shot from the blue line past Johnny Turek just 28 seconds into the third. Wolfenberg cashed in again on a breakaway chance at the 2:47 mark to put the Flivvers up three.
Rhinelander outshot Kingsford 13-5 in the opening period, but still found itself scoreless. Though Kingsford had a slight 11-9 edge in the second, the Hodags outshot the Flivvers again in the third, 13-6.
"We had a lot of rebound traffic and we always seemed to find that rebound on our backhand tonight," Laggis observed. "We were not in a real power position on the rebound, kind of almost in a non-offensive posture when we found the rebound. That's something we can work on and change."
Despite Kingsford's physical nature, a low number of penalties were called in the contest. Rhinelander was whistled for four infractions and Kingsford was only taken to the box twice. Laggis said he was pleased with how his team kept its cool in a game where the officials let the teams play.
"They had a lot of those high hits, later hits, interfering hits. The play's gone and they're just dumping (defenseman) Layne (Roeser) wildly there. Earlier in the year we would have melted down right there. We've worked hard on the mental end of playing through that and we did play through it reasonably well," he said.
The Saturday night affair was supposed to be the Hodags' third game of the week, but the team lost a home game Tuesday against Lakeland and a road game Thursday at Northland Pines due to inclement weather. Those games have been rescheduled for this coming Thursday and Jan. 30, respectively.
Before then, the Hodags face Antigo on the road this evening.
"We needed to play a really tough game right now, and I'm glad we did," Laggis said. "We knew they would be. When I watched them play Lakeland I thought they had a lot of really good chances and Lakeland's got just as good or better of a goalie. And they won that game 1-0, Lakeland did. I thought Kingsford could have scored three or four times in that game real easy. I knew it was going to be that kind of game tonight. It was going to be a battle and it was the game we had to play to get ready for Antigo."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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