State champion Hatchets reign over Hodag hockey

It took all of 14 seconds Thursday night for the Tomahawk Hatchets to show the Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team they are every bit as good as last season — if not a little better.

That’s how long it took Tomahawk to score its first goal, and the barrage continued through the first period and into the second as the Hatchets cruised to a 13-1 win over the Hodags in Great Northern Conference play at SARA Park. 

Jett Reilly scored four times for the defending WIAA Division 2 state champs and Jonah Dickens added three goals as Tomahawk (4-0-0, 2-0-0-0 Great Northern) blitzed the Hodags for eight first-period goals and tacked on five more over the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second before turning the game primarily over its second and third lines. 

“We all thought as coaches that Tomahawk was just really, really good,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “They just dominated from the opening faceoff. They moved the puck super quick. Just quick one-touch passes into a cycle, pumping it down the low, back up top, quick shot. 

“I think they’re better than last year, if you want the truth there. They were very, very good.”

Tomahawk’s top line of Jett Reilly, Jonah Dickens and Landyn Seymour accounted for 16 points on the night, while the team’s top two defensemen — Brayden Lamer and Rex Reilly —added two goals and three assists. 

The Hatchets already had a three-goal lead less than two minutes into the first period. Jett Reilly’s four goals all came in the first frame, including back-to-back tallies 20 seconds apart that made it 7-0 at the 11:12 mark of the period. Jonah Dickens tacked on one more goal at the 14:29 mark to make it an 8-0 lead. Lamer and Breck Stromberg also scored in the stanza. 

Tomahawk tacked on five more goals over the first 7:26 of the second with tallies by Rex Reilly, Breck Stromberg, Jonah Dickens, Michael Samundsen and Beau Stromberg. 

“We were overwhelmed with their speed and their skill,” Laggis said. “We just were. And it was very evident, and we were just watching the puck and trying to play catch up and trying to get ourselves in position to make a play. That was very difficult because they spread the offensive zone out so well. Their cycle is all over the ice and their points are very athletic, shoot the puck hard, and they use them like crazy.”

Rhinelander (0-3-0, 0-2-0-0 Great Northern) got on the board at the 11:58 mark of the period on the first career goal by junior Jack Turek. Goalie-turned-forward Asher Rivord won an offensive zone faceoff for the Hodags, passed to junior Kadin Rodziczak who centered it to Turek for a one-timer in front of the net. 

“Really happy that Jack got his first career goal,” Laggis said. “Nice to see him do that. It was a nice pass, and he just was right there one-timed it and put it home. Really good to get that one under your belt. We hope he’s got a lot more in. I’m happy for him.”

    Rhinelander’s Ryan Carey attempts to check Tomahawk’s Beau Stromberg during the first period of a GNC boys’ hockey game at Tomahawk Thursday, Dec. 4. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Tomahawk outshot Rhinelander 40-8 in the contest, with 35 of those shots coming over the first two periods. 

Despite graduating one of its top playmakers from last year’s state championship team in reigning GNC player of the year Austin Lamer, and getting promoted to Division 1 for this year’s state tournament due to the WIAA Performance Factor, Laggis said the Hatchets are every bit as strong as they were a season ago.

“I think Tomahawk’s got a legitimate shot at going pretty deep in the Division 1 playoffs this year … I think they’re every bit as good,” he said. “I was so impressed with the, again, the skill — not some fantastic system or anything of that nature — but the one-touch passes and feet constantly moving and just ready to one-time a puck on a moment’s notice. They’re a very skilled hockey team.”

It was the second lopsided loss in three days for the Hodags against the two teams who figure to be atop the GNC standings by season’s end. Northland Pines defeated Rhinelander 14-1 Dec. 2 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. Those two teams are set to square off tonight at SARA Park. 

“We got two of the tougher teams we’re going to play out of the way, so that’s a good thing, too,” Laggis said.

Rhinelander traveled to Oshkosh Saturday for a non-conference game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that contest and look for a full report in the Friday, Dec. 12 edition of the River News. 

The Hodags are back home tonight to face Waupaca in GNC play and will travel to Park Falls Thursday to face Chequamegon/Phillips in non-conference action.

Note: A copy of the official scoresheet provided to the River News credits Rhinelander’s goal to C.J. Sparks. However, Laggis stated Turek scored the goal and the River News was able to verify the error on the scoresheet by reviewing footage of the play. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].