March 27, 2023 at 9:07 a.m.
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
Seniors lead Hodags to another strong season
Team review: RHS boys' hockey
The Hodags matched a program record by winning 18 games this season and were tied 1-1 in the third period with eventual sectional champion Mosinee before falling 3-1 in a sectional semifinal contest.
That loss ended the high school careers of a group of seniors that finished 63-34-0, made four straight trips to the sectional semifinals, won a Great Northern Conference title in 2021 and a made trip to the sectional finals that same year.
"You've got a group of seniors that just gave everything that they had all year long and were incredibly durable and reliable and wanted to win game in and game out," coach M.J. Laggis said. "It doesn't make it any easier tonight, but the fact of the matter is they won 18 hockey game this year, that's more than respectable, 18-6 after tonight and they've won more hockey games than anyone in this program has ever won in a four-year career, those seniors did. That's something to hang your hat on."
The Hodags went 18-6-0 on the season and finished third in the Great Northern Conference.
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Fast start
Going into the year, the talk in the GNC was about two-time defending sectional champion Lakeland and a highly-talented Mosinee squad that was right on its heels.
Ultimately, though, Rhinelander grabbed the headlines early thanks to a 5-4 overtime win against an Amery team that was a regular member of the Wisconsin Prep Hockey Division 2 Top Six all year.
The Hodags won seven of their first eight games of the season and made it as high as No. 4 in the WiPH D2 poll on two separate occasions.
The Hodags came up big in the third period in a number of those early contests, pulling away from Marshfield, Medford and D.C. Everest in the final period to end the early hot streak.
"Just when you thought we were going to go flat we really put some nice pressure on and buried a couple of goals," Laggis said after out scoring Marshfield 3-1 in the final period to win 4-1. "That's a sign of a pretty solid hockey team to come back like that. I was proud of that effort."
Struggles vs. the top
Ultimately, however, Rhinelander's season ran into a wall against the top two teams in the GNC -Mosinee and Lakeland. Four of the team's six losses on the year came against those two, and the first two were tough losses to take.
Rhinelander never found its legs in a 7-2 regular season loss at Mosinee Jan. 12 and, two weeks later, dropped a 6-3 decision against Lakeland while still in the hunt for a top-two seed in the GNC tournament.
Unlike Rhinelander's early season success, the Hodags gave up three unanswered goals in the third period in the loss to the T-Birds.
"You've got to have your chin up and come back the next day," Laggis said. "It's hard. It's a rivalry game. You're playing for some home ice in the GNC and the playoffs. To be 3-3 and let them run wild for three in your barn, that's tough to take."
Rhinelander fell to Mosinee 3-0 in the GNC tournament before suffering one more defeat to the Indians in the WIAA tournament.
Playoff highlight
The 18th and final win of the season for the Hodags was a memorable one, as they knocked off rival Antigo 2-1 in overtime at the Rhinelander Ice Arena to begin the WIAA tournament.
Fittingly, two seniors hooked up on the final goal as defenseman Sam Schneider took a puck through the neutral zone, creating a 3-on-2 rush before dishing it off to Leo Losch for the winner.
"We wanted to end on a good note and that was a really fun way to go out," Losch said. "It speaks exactly of us. We didn't have it right away. It wasn't going to be easy to work for and we had to grind for it."
Statbook
The Hodags dealt with some adversity that night, and throughout the WIAA tournament, without leading scorer Joey Belanger. Belanger finished the season with 28 goals and 26 assists, but suffered a hand injury in the third-place game of the GNC tournament that knocked him out of the playoffs.
"Joey's not only our leading scorer but, when it's not in the lineup, if you didn't know what he meant to us, you sure knew it (then)," Laggis said. "He's a fantastic player ... He goes out there and leads in his own what. When you talk about the goals and the hot point nights and some of that and how he helped us win games, that's easy to talk about. But what really impressed me were the times he played fantastic defense."
The Hodags had plenty firepower to go around. Losch had 22 goals and 26 assists on the season, junior Gavin Denis had 12 goals and 17 helpers, and Rhinelander and plenty of scoring punch from the blue line as well. Senior defenseman Layne Roeser finished with 20 goals and 20 assists while Schneider tallied seven goals and 21 assists.
On the other end, Rhinelander essentially had to break in a new group of varsity goaltenders this year after last year's top two - Garrett Kulhanek and Caleb Shefveland - graduated.
Junior Tyler Kimmerling and sophomore Johnny Turek split the duties this year - with Kimmerling getting the majority of the minutes by roughly a 60-40 margin. The two posted similar numbers one the season. Kimmerling was 11-4-0 with a .882 save percentage and a 2.81 goals against average. Turek was 7-2-0 with an .880 save percentage, a 2.48 goals against average and the team's lone shutout. The save and goals against numbers do not include a game Dec. 17 at Jeffers, Mich., from which statistics are incomplete.
"We kind of did the goaltending by platoon," assistant coach Wil Losch said. "The last couple of games it shifted one way, but we have two guys that, on any given night, can do the job and get the start. Ultimately, I think that's a good thing for a program to have."
What's next
Rhinelander will have to replace plenty of top talent next year - including its top three defensemen in Roeser, Schneider and Layne Roeser. The team will also say goodbye to three of its top six forwards in Leo Losch, Finn Tulowitzky and AJ Turek.
Rhinelander has some scoring pieces slated to return in Belanger, Denis and first-line forward Zach Edyvean. It will also look for more out of the underclassman line of Karter Massey, Levi Forster and Timber Cronauer, which saw more ice as the season went.
The blue line will be a question as Dalton Fritz is the only of the team's top for defensemen back. Depth may also be an issue, with low numbers coming in from the bantam level.
"We've got a lot of challenges ahead of our hockey program the next years, for sure," Laggis said at the team's banquet.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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