Hodag hockey ends drought, gets back in win column

MERRILL — Over the course of about 17 hours Friday and Saturday, the Rhinelander High School boys hockey team snapped a couple of skids that had plagued it over the better part of a month.

First, the Hodags snapped a 13-period scoring drought Friday night in a 5-1 loss to the South Central (DeForest) co-op in Merrill. Then Rhinelander responded Saturday with its first victory since Dec. 3, defeating Medford 5-3 for third place at the Charlie Phelps Memorial Tournament. 

The five goals were the most Rhinelander (2-10-0, 0-2-0-0 Great Northern) scored since its only other win — a 6-2 triumph over Chequamegon/Phillips more than five weeks ago in Rhinelander — and more than the team had scored in its previous eight contests combined. 

“We emerged today,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said following Saturday’s win. “It’s been a tough stretch and we’re trying to use positivity big time. Got the win today. Let’s go get another one. That’s the attitude.”

Junior Logan Leonard netted his first two goals of the season, and they could not have come at a more important time as they staked the Hodags to a three-goal lead against the Raiders midway through the third period on Saturday. Rhinelander held on from there, despite allowing a goal with 5:52 remaining and taking two penalties over the final four minutes of the contest. 

    Rhinelander’s Dylan Shefveland reacts after scoring a goal during the first period of a non-conference boys’ hockey game in Merrill Saturday, Jan. 11. Rhinelander scored six goals in two games over the weekend in Merrill — four more than their previous seven games combined. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Dylan Shefveland also scored twice for Rhinelander, banging home a pair of rebound goals in the first period. He scored 5:52 in the game finishing off a scrum from a Zach Edyvean shot from the point. After Tucker Phillips scored short-handed to tie it for the Raiders (2-14-0, 0-4-0-0 Great Northern), Shefveland answered again with 3:24 left in the period, putting home a Nate Cordy shot to give Rhinelander a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

“I was really happy to see Dylan Shefveland getting rewarded for going hard to the net,” Laggis said. “Something we talk about all the time — and we clearly don’t do enough of — is going hard to the net and picking up those dirty, grimy goals, in the dirty areas, that’s awesome.”

    Rhinelander’s Drake Nelson handles the puck at neutral ice during the second period of a non-conference boys’ hockey game in Merrill Saturday, Jan. 11. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Drake Nelson picked up his team-leading seventh goal of the season 9:21 into the second period that briefly gave the Hodags a 3-1 lead. Medford replied quickly on a Fischer Thums look from close range just 28 seconds later. The Hodags hung on to their one goal lead until the end of the period after killing off a 5-on-3 power play late in the stanza. 

Leonard netted his first goal 8:10 into the third as he crashed the net and tipped home a shot from the point by Riley Squires. Leonard scored again just less than three minutes later as he walked in from the right face-off circle and fired a shot over the shoulder of Medford goalie Talan Albers. 

“Logan Leonard wasn’t having a particularly great game or feeling great about how he was playing, and he and I had a little talk coming out in the third about just make the next play, make the next play,” Laggis said. “I was really proud of him for popping a couple of goals, and that second one he scored was beautiful.”

Cole Pernsteiner flicked a shot in from the right point for Medford with 5:52 remaining in regulation. After the Hodags thwarted a Van Tulowitzky interference penalty, the Raiders pulled Albers for an extra attacker following a timeout with 1:46 remaining. Zach Edyvean was taken for tripping with 38 seconds to play, but the Hodags killed off the final moments 4-on-6 to preserve the win. 

A night earlier the Hodags ran out of gas against a South Central team that had more than twice as many skaters on its roster. The game was tied 1-1 after a period. Gaven Childs scored for the Navigators with 2:24 left in the period before senior Karter Massey snapped a Hodag scoring drought that spanned more than four games — going back to the second period of a 3-2 loss to Pacelli Dec. 17. He stayed with the play despite getting taken off his skates near the blue line, regained control of the puck and skated in for a point-blank finish. 

South Central (6-9-0, 3-5-0 Badger) tacked on two more goals in the second period and made it 4-1 on the power play 1:42 into the third before tacking on one more tally with less than six minutes to play.

“I thought we played hard last night,” Laggis said. “I’m not going to stand here and say 5-1, we lost and there was a moral victory. There’s no way, but one thing I really like as a big, positive takeaway that I talked to the kids a lot about after was effort and caring in the positivity on the bench was really, really good yesterday. That’s awesome.”

South Central outshot Rhinelander 32-11 on Friday while the Hodags held a 38-22 advantage in shots over Medford on Saturday. Sophomore Asher Rivord made 27 saves against the Navigators and 19 stops against the Raiders. 

“I thought Asher played pretty solid all weekend,” Laggis said. “Sometimes you’re not getting many shots, not getting many shots, all of a sudden you get several point blank shots in a row in from quality areas and that’s hard to do. So he did a good job of staying in there overall.”

The win snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Hodags, and was a bright spot in a season that Laggis admitted has been one of the most challenging he’s faced in his nearly three decades on the Rhinelander bench.

“It’s been the most challenging time I’ve ever had as a coach, period, this run here. trying to keep everything together, trying to keep both oars in the water, trying to get people to realize that we’re going to play for the front of the jersey,” he said, noting that the team elected to sit players for the first period of the last two games for disciplinary reasons. “We’re going to continue to do that until we can get the ship where we where we need it. It’s the player’s time to go out there and play and work, but it’s going to be a short bench and we’re going to have guys sitting if we’re taking bad penalties or if we’re not doing the little things that we need to do to create a good team dynamic.”

Though two Great Northern Conference rivals faced each other Saturday, the game did not count toward the conference standings. The GNC tilt between Rhinelander and Medford is slated for Thursday night at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. 

In the interim, the Hodags will travel to Northland Pines tonight to skate against the Eagles. It will be Rhinelander’s first conference game in 33 days, dating back to a 10-0 home loss to Tomahawk.

“It’ll be a very tough environment, but the key there is going in and playing our best hockey, you know, trying to absolutely weather the storm, weather the crowd, all that kind of stuff, and play our best and try to re-emerge a stronger team,” Laggis said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].