Antigo pulls away in second period, downs Hodag hockey 6-2

A young Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team is still looking to find a way to string together three strong periods. 

The Hodags showed flashes Tuesday night, but three unanswered second-period goals by Antigo allowed to Red Robins to create some separation and skate away with a 6-2 win in a Great Northern Conference contest in Antigo.

Ethan Novy had a hat trick for the Red Robins (5-2-0, 2-1-0-0 Great Northern) and Rhinelander lost despite outshooting the Robins 34-29 in the contest. 

“We had plenty of chances throughout tonight. In fact, I think we out shot them at the end of the night. But, No. 1, they have a very good goaltender. No. 2, we just have a lot of loose pucks around the rink that we could win races, and compete harder for,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. “Really for us, that’s one of the biggest things we need to really work on. We know our systems. We know what we’re supposed to be doing, but we gotta get a whole lot more compete level.”

Special teams allowed Antigo to pull away in the contest. The Robins scored a pair of short-handed goals and added a goal on the power play. Four of their six goals on the evening were the result of breakaway chances. 

“We really got to compete harder for loose pucks, and we make a lot of blind passes, just to no-man’s land, and those usually come back the wrong way on you,” Laggis said. “A lot of things we’re trying to work on, but the biggest thing is just, overall, team compete level.”

Drake Nelson scored on the power play midway through the first for the Hodags, and a Jack Turek rebound goal cut Antigo’s lead to 3-2 a minute and a half into the second, but the Robins pulled away from there. 

Novy scored on the power play at the 3:11 mark of the period following a strong cycle in the offensive zone from Liam Burt and Carson Rhode. Rhode won a puck at his own blue line, leading to a 2-on-1 chance that resulted in an Alex Brittenham goal halfway through the second and Novy completed his hat trick short-handed on a 2-on-1 with 2:42 remaining in the second. 

Richie Veriha, Rhode and Novy had the goals for Antigo in the first period as the Robins led 3-1 after 17 minutes. 

“Antigo had at one line that was really fast. They only played nine kids for most of the game. But they have one line that was really fast, and that line did a lot of the damage,” Laggis noted.

Nelson scored on the power play for Rhinelander 8:04 into the first. After having his initial shot denied by Antigo’s Austin Martinson, Nelson regained control and circled back in from the left corner for his second goal of the season. 

Turek scored his third goal in two games in a scrum in front of the net 1:32 into the second period after Asher Rivord tipped away a puck and created a turnover behind the Antigo net. 

“He’s been pouring them in lately, so to speak, and playing really hard hockey, and winning a lot of races, so that’s good to see,” Laggis said of Turek’s recent hot streak. “He’s got to stay on that thread. He’s got to stay on that train of winning races to pucks and get pucks to the net.”

Rhinelander’s depth eventually started to show through in the third period. The Hodags outshot the Robins 16-6 in the final stanza, but neither team was able to find the back of the net over the last 17 minutes. 

“We actually generated some good chances in the third period, too. I thought it was our best period of hockey overall,” Laggis said. “Didn’t give up any goals. We played an even, and really did have some really nice chances, to be honest with you. That could have had been 6-3, 6-4 without too much of a stretch. But, bottom line is, we’re not playing 51 minutes that way, and that’s been a huge focus for our team.”

Martinson made 32 saves in the win for Antigo while Connor McGee made 23 saves in defeat for Rhinelander. 

Next up, the Hodags will face D.C. Everest in a non-conference contest Monday, Dec. 22 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. 

“Everest will be a really a balanced team and it’ll be a tough challenge for us,” Laggis said. “They’re gonna be a handful on some, but it’s just another chance for us to step up and try to improve.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].