Everest uses late first surge to down Hodag hockey 4-3

Four shaky minutes of hockey for Rhinelander late in the first period ultimately proved to be the difference in a home loss on Tuesday night. 

The Hodags surrendered three goals in the final 4:20 of the opening stanza and fell to D.C. Everest 4-3 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.

Joey Belanger scored twice for the Hodags, bringing him to 17 goals on the season and 97 for his RHS career, but the Hodags (4-7-0, 1-3-0-0 Great Northern) were unable to build off a win at Medford and string together back-to-back victories for the first time this season. 

Belanger put the Hodags ahead 1-0 on a wraparound goal 6:06 into the first period, but Everest took the lead for good with its late first-period onslaught. It started at the 12:40 mark of the period as Adam McKaig redirected a Kyle Welsh shot from the point to tie the game. From there, Cole VanSlyke stole a mishandled puck at the Hodag blue line and skated in for a breakaway goal to give Everest the lead. Another mishandle led to another odd-man rush with less than a minute to play in the period, with Brett Schulz converting the 2-on-0 chance. 

“I thought we had some energy and momentum there but, frankly, giveaways — handing pucks away — was deadly for us tonight,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “We made just some critical mistakes where we threw the puck at neutral ice, or in the defensive zone we had it in the corner and made some baffling moves. It got peeled from us and we paid for that. Give Everest credit, but a lot of it was self-induced.”

Rhinelander answered early in the second period as Zach Edyvean scored a power play goal, banging home a rebound off a Belanger shot from the left point. 

“Down 3-1 after the first we definitely set the course of coming out in the second, not giving up a goal and scoring one and tightening the game,” Laggis said. “That’s exactly what we did.”

Rhinelander had a chance to pull even, or take the lead, later in the period after Schulz was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind, but the Hodags were unable to score on the extended power play and finished the night just 1 for 4 with the man advantage. 

“That, for me, was a big disappointment,” Laggis said of his special teams. “We didn’t move the puck well. We started running and gunning and shooting from anywhere and everywhere and not playing very disciplined. That was definitely an issue. We did not capitalize on that and play well.

“Right now. We’re a one power play team. You get one unit out there and they’re gassed and then you’re trying to keep them out there too long and that doesn’t pay off. We got to have a better approach to that. We already know that, though. It’s about trying to get a second unit ready to go, and a second unit that can control the puck and get us offensive zone faceoffs. We’re not quite there yet.”

Everest restored a two-goal lead 3:29 into the third as Thomas Passineau picked off a puck in the corner in the offensive zone and skated in along the end line for a tough finish from a sharp angle. Belanger answered back, causing a turnover at his own blue line before finishing a 2-on-1 chance with 5:46 remaining. 

The Hodags spent the final two minutes with an extra attacker, but we unable to find the equalizer.

“We weren’t able to put a puck home. We did have chances with some pucks bouncing around but, again, good goaltending kind of took it away from us right there,” Laggis said. “I’m not disappointed in our level of effort. I’m disappointed that we’ve got to play better in front of opposing goalies and finish better. That’s something we’ve got to keep working on.”

Rhinelander outshot Everest 40-36 in the contest. Tyler Kimmerling made 32 saves in defeat for the Hodags.

The game kicked off a busy four-game week for the Hodags, which continued at home against Mosinee Thursday in a GNC contest that concluded after deadline for today’s edition. Rhinelander travels to the East/Merrill Invite and will face Jeffers, Mich. tonight. The Hodags will either take on Medford or East/Merrill on Saturday. 

“We’ve got to have the approach of getting as many legs on the ice as we can and playing as many guys as we can and trying to compete the best that we can,” Laggis said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].