Eagles co-op stuns Storm, advances to sectional final

In a playoff shocker, the Northland Pines girls’ hockey co-op defied all odds to take down the No. 1 seed on the road.

The Eagles, the No. 5 seed, defeated the Central Wisconsin Storm 2-1 in a WIAA sectional semifinal game in Wausau on Tuesday.

“I couldn’t have been prouder,” coach Jeff Stebbeds said. “Like usual, Lucy Nowak was awesome in net for us. We scored first again like we did the last time we played the Storm, but this time we held the lead, and the girls, they didn’t let up and stopped applying pressure. They just were constantly, literally in their face all night long. It was just a total team effort. This team plays their tails off for us every game day in and day out.”

The Eagles have two skaters from Rhinelander — junior Reese Retallick and freshman Lena Chiamulera — on their roster. Northland Pines, Lakeland, Antigo, Three Lakes, Hurley and Norway (Mich.) high schools comprise the remainder of the co-op.

The win was Northland Pines’ (8-13-2, 2-7-0 Wis. Valley) first over Central Wisconsin this season. The Storm won both games in the regular season by a score of 3-1. 

Northland Pines goalie Lucy Nowak was a wall for the Eagles. She collected 50 saves on 51 shots on goal, a percentage of .980 — both season highs for Nowak. The Storm averaged 2.88 goals per game in the regular season. 

“She puts hours in. She puts the time in away from our practices in the offseason,” Stebbeds said. “If you want to achieve something, you got to put the hours in when there aren’t people in the stands cheering for you, and she does that, just that for us, and it translates onto the ice when we get into these games. She’s huge for us every day.”

In two playoff wins over Wisconsin Valley Union and Central Wisconsin, Nowak has combined for 85 saves on 89 chances, a percentage of .955.

A huge swing took place in the final minutes of the first period. Central Wisconsin had one of its six power play chances. The momentum completely flipped to the Eagles when Lilly Tomlanovich scored an unassisted short-handed goal with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in the first period.

“We won the draw, and then Lilly Tomlanovich just went and got the puck, almost kind of flat, almost flat to the goal line, put it on net and the thing — it happened so fast,” Stebbeds said. “I don’t know if it was a redirect or not, but the thing ended up in the net, and like I said, our side was just going absolutely bonkers, and you could’ve heard a pin drop over there.”

Northland Pines’ momentum continued early in the second period. Lexi Veriha put the puck in the back of the net, assisted by Lilly Beitler. The goal came 1:44 into the second period. Veriha, a freshman from Antigo, scored the first goal of her high school hockey career.

“Another awesome kid that comes in, works hard every single practice for us,” Stebbeds said about Veriha. “You’re so happy and proud of the kids when they can achieve goals like that, especially, they work all season, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then all of a sudden in a big game like that, you probably get the biggest game of your life or your career to this point. In a key moment like that just happy for, like I said, she was pretty stoked.”

Central Wisconsin (16-8-1, 7-1-0 Wis. Valley) didn’t go down without a fight. They totaled 23 shots in the second period alone and scored with just 68 seconds left in the period. Madeline Kelter got the goal and Ava Whitmore the assist.

The third period saw the Storm outshoot the Eagles 17-2, including a frenetic final minute. With 33 seconds left in the game, Mya Renkes got hit with a two-minute minor for hooking. The Eagles survived a 6-on-4 Storm advantage and advanced to the sectional final on Saturday.

“They pulled the goalie, had a 6-on-4, and sometimes when you’re short-handed like that at a key moment of the game, kids start running around rather than playing the responsibilities,” Stebbeds said. “We just told them before they went out there, ‘Everybody play your role and expect everyone else to do their responsibility, and everything will work out for the best,’ and they did just that. They got a few shots off. But again, Lucy was phenomenal in net, and we were able to ... clear the crease so that any dangerous rebounds.”

Both teams had opportunities for more goals. Northland Pines (0/5) and Central Wisconsin (0/6) combined to go 0/11 on the power play.

The win marked Northland Pines’ first win over the Storm since at least the 2010-11 season, according to Pines activities director A.J. Zayia.

The Northland Pines co-op will play in a WIAA sectional final against Superior/Northwestern, the No. 2 seed, on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Hayward Sports Center.

“They were the No. 2 seed, right, for a reason,” Stebbeds said. “But I guess you can take all that seeding and just kind of throw it out the window at this point, right? Because we just beat the No. 1 seed (Tuesday). These girls, they don’t care if they’re playing the No. 1 seed or the No. 6 seed. They’re going to go in and tend to business. We’ll be prepared for it and give them a (heck) of a game.”

The Spartans are 10-13-0, 2-1-0 Independent. They beat third-seeded Hayward co-op 3-2 in overtime in their sectional semifinal game. 

It’ll be the first meeting of the season between the Eagles and Spartans. They were originally supposed to play each other on Jan. 30 before it got canceled.

The winner of Northland Pines and Superior will go to state. If the Eagles were to win, it would be their first trip to state since 2007.

The puck drops at 1 p.m.

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