Northland Pines girls’ hockey co-op drops two straight

The Northland Pines girls’ hockey co-op took on two of the better teams in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.

First, Black River Falls beat the Eagles 3-0 on Friday, Feb. 6 in Antigo. Then on Monday, the Central Wisconsin Storm beat Northland Pines 3-1 on Monday in Mosinee.

The Eagles are made up of skaters from Northland Pines, Rhinelander, Lakeland, Antigo, Three Lakes, Hurley and Norway (Mich.) high schools.

Black River Falls 3, Northland Pines 0

The Tigers scored three goals in the last two periods and outshot the Eagles 34-2. Ally Ritter scored a goal with assists to Kaia Moore and Camryn Steele. Less than two minutes later, Jordyn King had a power play goal. Chloe North and Moore had assists.

“We played hard,” coach Jeff Stebbeds said. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but young teams lack firepower sometimes. The strength of our opponent on Friday is indeed their defensemen. They are bigger, faster and stronger while taking proper angles and shutting us down. It’s an experienced team that has been together for a few years now.”

Black River Falls (15-7-1, 7-1-0 Wis. Valley) added one more goal in the third period courtesy of Piper Mathison, unassisted. 

“A positive thing I see is that the girls never give up in these games,” Stebbeds said. “They work hard for us. The future for this group is bright.”

The Eagles totaled five penalties for 10 minutes. Black River Falls only went 1 for 5 on the power play.

Northland Pines goalie Lucy Nowak made 38 saves in the loss.

Central Wisconsin 3, Northland Pines 1

Northland Pines (5-12-2, 2-7-0 Wis. Valley) held a short lead in the first period. Lilly Tomlanovich scored with the assist to Ayla Shepherdson. The goal came four minutes into the period.

Then, the Storm (15-6-1, 6-1-0 Wis. Valley) had the equalizer from Madeline Kelter 2 minutes, 22 seconds later. Jayden Yirkovsky and Brynleigh Rude were awarded with assists.

Tied at 1-1 in the second period, the Eagles had the power play chance. Yirkovsky scored a short-handed goal, the game winner.

“Going into the playoffs next week, they are the (No.) 1 seed, and we are the (No.) 5 seed,” Stebbeds said. “We have played them tough both times this year and lost 3-1 each time.”

Nowak accumulated 48 saves on 51 chances in the contest.

“Lucy played unbelievable in net again for us,” Stebbeds said.

Kelter scored 41 seconds into the third period to ice the game. Grace du Vair and Yirkovsky got assists. Yirkovsky led all players with three points.

The Storm outshot the Eagles 51-17.

Northland Pines took on the Hayward Co-op on Thursday after press time for today’s edition and will conclude the regular season with a road game at Viroqua on Saturday.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].