100 for the record books

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. — Over his four-year high school career, Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger has made a habit of putting himself in the right place at the right time, and he knows what to do when he gets there.

That was the case again on Tuesday night as Belanger cemented his legacy as the most prolific scorer in Hodag hockey history.

Belanger scored his 100th career goal, but it was not quite enough as the Hodags fell to the Kingsford Flivvers 3-2 on the road in a non-conference contest.

The milestone goal came on the power play with 6:29 remaining in the contest. Teammate Gavin Denis threw the puck through the slot to an onrushing Belanger, who missed his initial chance to beat Kingsford goalie Nate Scullon, but quickly gathered the loose puck and put home the second chance.

“It was a perfect pass. He put it on a platter for me and I just whiffed, but I got the puck back and put it in the back of the net. It was good to see,” Belanger told the River News afterward.

Coach M.J. Laggis said it took a bit of convincing to get the milestone puck to give to Belanger. He said the officials were in a bit a disbelief that someone could reach that mark. 

“It’s a record that will stand, I think, a pretty long time,” Laggis said. “That kid’s a pure shooter, a pure goal scorer … I’ve seen a lot of kids that can shoot the puck and I’ll tell you, Joey Belanger can shoot the puck at a high level in high school hockey.”

    Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger is greeted by teammates after scoring his 100th career high school goal during the third period of a non-conference boys’ hockey game against Kingsford in Iron Mountain, Mich. Tuesday, Jan. 16. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Belanger’s celebration looked similar to the 99 he’s had before. He dropped his knee and glided to the corner, where he was congratulated by his power play unit before leading the celebration line back to the Hodag bench.

“I couldn’t believe it. It’s the first time in program history that that’s ever happened. It’s awesome to be a part of history,” he said. “It feels pretty good. You take every goal you can get. I’m not disappointed at all. We all played a hard game. I thought, overall, we all played pretty good.”

Belanger’s goal was part of a furious third-period comeback as the Hodags nearly erased a 3-0 deficit to force overtime. Timber Cronauer also scored on the power play in the third as the Hodags made it a game, despite being outshot 38-14 in the contest. 

“We started frazzled,” Laggis said. “I thought we played not a good first period. We tried to make some adjustments at intermission. It was a little bit better in the second and then we did play a really pretty solid third period, scored a couple of goals.”

Scoreless much of the first period, a Hodag lapse nearly the end of the frame helped stake the Flivvers to a 2-0 lead. Jake Crockford intercepted a pass, skated in on a 2-on-1 breakaway and scored a short-handed goal to put Kingsford on the board at the 13:41 mark of the period. The Flivvers added to the lead just 1 minute, 18 seconds later as Jack Spreen poked home a rebound in a scrum in front of the net.

Kingsford controlled the second period, outshooting the Hodags 10-1, and added to its lead at the 7:56 mark of the period as Jake Deuter found a rebound on a shot by Will Murvich.

“They had times when they had rebounds in front of our goalie and our off wing, whose job it is to engage immediately in that situation, watched, came to the bench and said, ‘Ah, geez, I should have been there,’” Laggis said.

    Rhinelander’s Nate Cordy (22) and Dalton Fritz look to win a battle for the puck along the boards against Kingsford’s Jake Powell during the second period of a non-conference boys’ hockey game in Iron Mountain, Mich. Tuesday, Jan. 16. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Kingsford took a roughing penalty right at the end of the second period and the Hodags cashed in on the ensuing power play. Cronauer got to the net and banged home a rebound for his fourth goal of the year at the 1:28 mark.

“I’m really happy to see our power play operate the way it did under some pressure and for Timber to be in the right spot for that rebound goal. Nice goal on his part,” Laggis said.

The Hodags had a couple of other looks after Belanger pulled Rhinelander within one, but the Hodags had a difficult time maintaining a forecheck down the stretch. Kingsford pinned the puck in the Rhinelander zone for much of the final two minutes, denying the Hodags a chance to pull goalie Tyler Kimmerling for an extra attacker. 

“It’s not going to be the last time we’ve got to do it and we’ve just got to keep working at getting our guy off the ice,” Laggis said. “Kimmy didn’t come once when I called him because it was a chipped puck in their zone and they won the race to it. That was a good call on Kimmy’s part. He’s got to make that decision. But we’ve got to do a better job of being able to take quicker shifts at the end.”

Kimmerling made 35 saves in the loss for Rhinelander. It marked his third-straight 30-plus save effort. 

“I thought Kimmy played really, really well and found some pucks in traffic,” Laggis said. “He really stood tall, especially going down 2-0 and 3-0. There are a lot of times that a goalie can just kind of feel like, ‘wow, the team’s not playing well,’ but he stood tall.”

Despite the loss, the night belonged to Belanger. Afterward he thanked his parents for supporting him on the way to his milestone.

“My parents did a lot for me. They come to every game. I definitely could not be where I am without them. They do everything for me,” he said. 

Laggis called Belanger the best shooter of the puck he’s seen in nearly three decades on the Hodag bench and said Belanger is proof of the old hockey adage that good things happen when you put the puck on net.

“I’ll you what, he might fail four, five, six, seven times, but the eighth or ninth one goes —or sometimes a lot of them go. He’s been persistent. I’m really glad that he got it. I would have loved to see him get it in our barn, loved to have see him get it in a win, but super proud that he did get it.” 

Laggis said the Hodags (4-9-0, 1-4-0 Great Northern) have picked up a game this Saturday at Wausau East/Merrill. The game was added after last weekend’s East/Merrill tournament, which the Hodags were supposed to be a part of, was canceled due to snow. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].