Lakeland downs Hodag hockey again to open GNC tournament

Round two against Lakeland produced a nearly identical result for the Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team on Tuesday night. 

Lakeland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Hodags in Minocqua to open Great Northern Conference tournament play. The two teams had played just five days earlier, with Lakeland winning that contest 5-2.

Rhinelander (4-13-0, 1-7-0 Great Northern) shored up some of its defensive issues from the first meeting, holding the T-Birds to 33 shots on Tuesday after giving up 54 last Thursday, but Lakeland kept Rhinelander in check much of the night. The Hodags were held to 13 shots in the contest as they suffered their seventh straight loss. 

“We didn’t get outshot as bad as we did the other night. It was something like 35-12. Not good, but not like what the other night was,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said.

Partly by choice and partly due to a leg injury suffered by defenseman Zach Edyvean, the Hodags juggled their lines again on Tuesday, trying to find a spark that will lead to more consistent play. 

“That inconsistency leads up to keep switching things up and find guys that want to compete on any given night. It’s difficult, where we’re at right now,” Laggis said.

Lakeland (16-3-0, 7-1-0 Great Northern) jumped on Rhinelander early, scoring three times in the first 9 1/2 minutes of the game. 

Al Meyer got things started for the T-Birds, streaking through the slot to finish of a centering pass from CJ Smith at the 3-minute mark of the period. Dom Gironella made it 2-0 as he put home a loose puck in front of the Hodag net off a Kade Meyer shot from the point and Matt Haggart made it 3-0 on a wrist shot from the right circle as the T-Birds caught the Hodags in a line change and had a 3-on-2 rush into the offensive zone. 

“The wheels were kind of coming off the wagon early so we called a timeout to settle things down. I thought we settled things down,” Laggis said. 

Rhinelander got on the board on the power play at the 12:34 mark of the period on Timber Cronauer’s fifth goal of the season. He was stationed in front of the net and poked home a rebound off a Joey Belanger shot from the blue line. 

“He does a good job on the power play being in front of that net,” Laggis said. “When he’s in the front of that net and he’s waiting for the puck to come to the net, that’s what he does best. He turns and finds that rebound. He’s picked up a couple of nice power play goals like that, just owning the area in front of the net.”

Lakeland scored again late in the second period as Gray Wagner found a rebound in front after Rhinelander’s Tyler Kimmerling stopped a point-blank chance from Noah Dube. The T-Birds tacked one more on the power play late in the third period. Kade Meyer, who also had three assists in the game, scored from the left circle off a centering pass from Haggart. 

The Hodags had to juggle the lines and defensive pairings after Laggis said Edyvean first tweaked a shoulder that caused him to miss a few shifts. He returned, but Laggis said Edyvean then suffered a laceration to his leg that forced him out for the remainder of the contest. Laggis said that injury will likely keep Edyvean sidelined “for a game or two.”

Belanger, the Hodags’ leading scorer, went back to defense following Edyvean’s injury and the Hodags tried to piece together the lines from there.

“Joey Belanger did a really nice job coming back to D and played a really nice couple of periods at D,” Laggis said. “Gavin Denis worked really hard up front, just not a lot of opportunity. It was a lot of working to stay alive. Then a young guy I thought handled the puck well tonight, made a few nice passes and got more playing time was Drake Nelson. He did a nice job on several shifts.”

Kimmerling made 28 saves in the loss for Rhinelander. 

The loss knocked the Hodags into the consolation bracket in the GNC tournament. All of the top seeds held serve on Tuesday night with Tomahawk defeating Medford 11-2, Waupaca beating Northland Pines 7-1 and Mosinee trouncing Antigo 8-1. Rhinelander will travel to Northland Pines for the second round of the conference tournament this coming Tuesday. 

The Hodags traveled to Shawano/Bonduel for a non-conference game on Thursday that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will play its final home game of the regular season Saturday afternoon against Ashland.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@rivernewsonline.com.