Mosinee downs Hodag hockey, 8-1

The Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team was not able to keep up with Mosinee’s offensive firepower Monday night. Tyler Baars scored four times and Mosinee peppered the Hodag net with nearly 60 shots as the Indians skated away with an 8-1 win at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.

Mosinee led 4-1 after a period, tacked on another goal in the second and three more for good measure in the final nine minutes of the contest.

“For sure they are skilled. They are very skilled and we battled really hard at points, and we played really well in the defensive zone at points. Then we had points where we really let down,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said.

Baars had a hat trick in the first period for Mosinee, scoring the Indians’ final three goals of the stanza. Reid Butalla had the opener 1:57 into the contest before Baars took over. He scored twice, 12 seconds apart, to give Mosinee a 3-0 lead at the 4-minute mark and added another goal in traffic late in the first period. 

Baars assisted Evan Karst for a point-blank score early in the second period and finished off his five-point night on a breakaway goal with 4:03 left in the third period. Evan Gwidt and Noah Zebro also scored for Mosinee in the final period. 

Rhinelander freshman goalie Connor McGee recorded a season-high 51 saves in the loss. Mosinee’s 59 shots were the second-most the Hodags have allowed this year, behind only the 62 Northland Pines put up in a 14-1 decision back on Dec. 2.

“I thought Conor McGee’s compete level tonight as a goalie, he competed extremely hard and worked the entire game and had a fantastic attitude,” Laggis said. “That’s a tall order for a freshman goalie. And the thing is, he’s not just a freshman goalie — he’s a freshman goalie and there’s no other option. So it’s on him. And that’s a tough spot to be in and I thought he played it really hard and competed really well.”

Senior Dylan Shefveland scored Rhinelander’s lone goal on the night, and his second of the season. Shefveland scored from close range on the power play at the 12:28 mark of the opening period following a nice cycle in the offensive zone. Kadin Rodziczak and Carsen Zadnik were credited with the assists. 

“I thought the power play we scored on, we set it up nice and had a nice little combination, a little quick misdirection, a shot and buried it,” Laggis said. “That’s nice. We’ve been trying to get the puck, in the power play, in our 1-3-1 and get it set up all year and the last two games, the first times that we’ve really set it up and started to move it a little bit. That’s a positive and we’re just looking for any positives we can get and try to keep building on it.”

Rhinelander dropped to 0-13-0 on the season with the loss and was set to wrap up the first round of GNC play Thursday at home against Lakeland in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. 

“Our locker room has gotten closer in the last week and we just got to keep going the right direction, keep working hard together. We can’t change what we are. All we can do is just keep improving it,” Laggis said.

The Hodags travel to Marshfield for a non-conference game on Saturday before bringing the second round of conference play on Tuesday. 

Unlike the past several years, the league is not ending its season with a full-on conference tournament. Instead, the GNC will be split in half based on the first-round standings, with the top four teams playing each other in a three-game round robin, as well as the bottom four teams. Teams that hosted during the regular season will serve as the visitor for the rematch. 

Rhinelander will host Medford on Tuesday, Jan. 20, andAntigo on Tuesday, Jan. 27 before traveling to Lakeland Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].