Hodag hockey can’t keep up with Lakeland, GNC tourney rematch ahead

The Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team was outgunned in its first matchup of the year against defending conference champion Lakeland. The Hodags will get another crack at the Thunderbirds tonight as the Great Northern Conference tournament begins.

Rhinelander found itself within shouting distance again in the third period on Thursday, only to watch a sixth straight game go by the boards as the T-Birds claimed a 5-2 victory in Minocqua. 

Rhinelander (4-12-0, 1-6-0 Great Northern) has trailed by one goal or has been tied in the third period each game of its current six-game losing streak, only to watch all six get away. This one was a little different than the rest as the T-Birds (15-3-0, 6-1-0 Great Northern) dominated the shot count by a margin of 54-10, yet the Hodags still found themselves with a chance late.

Joey Belanger scored on the power play to bring Rhinelander within a goal, down 3-2 at the 4:22 mark of the third. However, just as when the Hodags got within a goal in the third last Tuesday against Antigo, the margin was short-lived. Lakeland’s CJ Smith banged home a rebound on the next possession to restore Lakeland’s two-goal lead and Kort Meyer added an insurance goal later in the third. 

Coach M.J. Laggis said a Hodag team that has been short on depth much of the year finds itself in a catch-22 in those late game situations. By loading all of its top skaters on the power play, as Rhinelander did to get within a goal, it leaves the subsequent shift disjointed. 

“When we’re on the power play, we’ve got our top five guys out there trying to score and, really, that’s the only way we can score,” he said. “We tried other things earlier on and it didn’t work. But, you go 1:40, which is too long of a shift, but you score at the very end of the power play. Then you come back with a scrambled situation and you don’t have a very strong crew out there and you give up goals immediately. It’s not the first time it’s happened where we’ve scored a big power play goal and almost immediately give one up. That’s a problem we’ve got to solve.”

Lakeland led 2-0 after a period on Thursday. Gray Wagner got the scoring started after the T-Birds cycled the puck around and fired it down low at the 5:20 mark of the period. Lakeland scored again with 33 seconds left in the period as Matt Haggart scored on a wrist-shot to make it 2-0.

The official scoresheet credited Lakeland with a 22-1 shot advantage in the second period yet the Hodags were 10 seconds away from winning the period. 

Karter Massey buried a loose puck after the T-Birds poked it away from Belanger in the low slot at the 3:09 mark of the period. 

“It was a really nice, working man’s goal by Karter Massey,” Laggis noted.

The score remained 2-1 until the final seconds of the period when, toward the end of a Logan Leonard interference penalty, Kade Meyer was left open on the left faceoff circle and buried a one-timer off a centering pass from behind the net. 

“We played a real nice second period. We scored. We’re in a 2-1 game and took a penalty at the end of the period. We almost killed it,” Laggis said. “There’s 10 seconds left in the period and we got scored on, just really a back-breaker. We would have gotten out of the period outscoring them 1-0 and been in a one-goal game and had some momentum, but shot ourselves in a foot with a penalty.”

    Rhinelander goalie Tyler Kimmerling covers up the puck in a scrum in front of his net during the second period of a GNC boys’ hockey game against Lakeland in Minocqua Thursday, Jan. 25. Kimmerling made 49 saves for Rhinelander in a 5-2 defeat. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander’s Tyler Kimmerling made a season-high 49 saves in defeat. 

“We gave up two goals that weren’t good goals, yet we made some fantastic saves. Kimmerling made some fantastic saves,” Laggis said. 

Rhinelander and Lakeland were already locked into their respective seeds for the conference tournament — Rhinelander the No. 7 and Lakeland the No. 2 — prior to Thursday’s game. The teams will turn around and meet again in Minocqua tonight to start the tourney. Laggis said there are adjustments his team will need to make heading into tonight — mainly involving how it manages to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

“From a systems standpoint, we’re continuing to try to change our breakout. We work on hitting the center and using the center. We never do it in a game though. We just continually jam the puck up the boards and teams just feast on that. Lakeland did that tonight,” he said. “We’re going to work hard at trying to use other parts of the ice on the breakout. Then we’ve just got to get better at clearing pucks when we’re in trouble. When the shift is extended and extended, there comes a time when you’ve got to find the puck and unload it. We get chances to do that and we don’t physically do it though.”

Rhinelander will then travel to face Shawano/Bonduel in a non-conference game on Thursday. The Hodags beat the Hawks 5-1 to open the season back in November. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].