January 25, 2023 at 2:03 p.m.
Hodag hockey overcomes slow start, secures home GNC tourney game
Hodag hockey overcomes slow start, secures home GNC tourney game
In the first 4 1/2 minutes, the Hodags gave up a pair of goals and had one of their own disallowed, but Rhinelander battled back to defeat the Red Robins 5-3 at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building.
The Hodags (10-3-0, 4-1-0-0 Great Northern) scored five unanswered goals after their rocky start. Joey Belanger scored two of them and assisted on the other three as Rhinelander clinched a top four seed for the GNC tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday.
"I was proud of the team, proud of the resilience," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "To get down by two in this building, that would be a death sentence most years, but we were able to fight back, get the win."
Rhinelander was able to wear out an Antigo team that dressed only 14 skaters and had picked up a 5-2 win a night earlier at Waupaca. The Hodags fought back to take a 3-2 lead after one period and tacked on two more in the second as they outshot the Robins 48-21 overall.
That all seemed improbable after Antigo (6-10-0, 2-4-0-1 Great Northern) got off to a torrid start. Eli Kassler scored on a rebound 33 seconds into the game and Zach Roth poked home another rebound goal at the 4:03 mark to give the Robins a 2-0 lead.
In between the Antigo goals, Rhinelander had what appeared to be a Leo Losch wraparound goal disallowed. According to Laggis, the officials claimed that the play should have been blown dead after the Robins touched the puck on a delayed high-sticking violation, but the whistle never sounded until after Losch scored.
"None of it really made a whole lot of sense to me," he said. "(They said it was) a high stick and they played the puck and it just didn't make much sense. They played the puck after the high stick is the point we're trying to make. That was a little bit of weird explanation."
Sophomore goalie Johnny Turek got the start for the Hodags, but was relieved by junior Tyler Kimmerling shortly after allowing the second goal. Laggis said it was a move he didn't take lightly, especially considering how little help Turek had in front of his crease early in the contest.
"Johnny was getting absolutely no help at all. There were second, third chances right there on rebounds," he said. "That's a sophomore goalie that's done a lot for us already this season. His head's in the game. He's a great practice kid, day in and day out. He'll get another start in the next two games.
"We needed a jump, we needed a little spark and that did it. The kids in the locker room knew we didn't start good in front of Johnny tonight. That's disappointing but, after we got over that, we did respond hard and played hard. We're able to overcome adversity, tuck a few pucks home."
It did not take long for Rhinelander to respond, thanks to the line of Belanger, Finn Tulowitzky and AJ Turek. The three hooked up at the 5:36 mark, with Tulowitzky banging home a rebound to put the Hodags on the board. Belanger then tied it at the 10:26 mark and defenseman Sam Schneider gave Rhinelander the lead at the 13:47 mark after Tulowitzky set a screen for Schneider to blast a shot from the left point.
The momentum continued in Rhinelander's direction in the second period. Belanger scored on a backhander 3:59 into the period and then fed a puck to AJ Turek on a breakaway that made it 5-2 at the 6:42 mark.
"That line really pulled it together for us tonight and played well," Laggis said. "I thought AJ showed really good poise on that goal and put that away. Joey Belanger was strong on the puck and Finn Tulowitzky took a nice step tonight just controlling his game, controlling the puck, helping to create offense.
"I thought we had a really nice second period, thought maybe Antigo showed the effects of having a game last night on the road. In the third they came out great, which I knew they would and we were able to put it away there at the end."
Antigo got to within two goals as Owen Dickman fired home a drop pass from Kassler 2:14 into the third. That was the only goal Kimmerling gave up in 15 chances over the final 45 1/5 minutes of the game.
"Tyler Kimmerling came in and did a really nice job," Laggis said. "That's a nice night in there for him. He came in cold off the bench, and that's difficult to do as well. I was really happy with him and that performance tonight."
All of the top four teams in the GNC won Tuesday night - locking in Mosinee, Lakeland, Tomahawk and Rhinelander as the hosts for the first round of the conference tournament. Mosinee's 6-3 win over Northland Pines also eliminated Rhinelander from contention for the No. 1 seed for the GNC tournament, based on a head-to-head win over the Hodags earlier in the season. Rhinelander still had a chance to earn the No. 2 seed as it took on Lakeland Thursday night at the RIA in a game that concluded after deadline for today's edition.
Rhinelander will host Oshkosh Saturday afternoon and then travel to Northland Pines on Monday night before opening the GNC tournament at home this coming Tuesday.
"We've got a lot to play for the rest of the way here now," Laggis said. "The good news is we know we're going to get at least one GNC home game. That's good."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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