Team review: RHS boys’ hockey

To say the last two seasons have been difficult for the Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team would be an understatement. 

The Hodags followed a 3-22-0 campaign in 2024-25 with a 1-23-0 record this year. While there were a couple of bright spots, those were mainly fleeting, just like the Hodags’ chances of winning games.

Rhinelander went 1-9-0 in the GNC and, with a young squad that ended the year with only three seniors, saw a number of close games slip from their grasp in the third period. 

“Last season and this season have been extremely difficult, win-wise, and there’s been a lot of things along the road that have been real struggles,” Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said following a playoff loss to eventual WIAA Division 2 state champion Northland Pines. 

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Coming up empty

While there were certainly games in which the Hodags were overmatched, there were several that were close until at least the third period. 

Two of Rhinelander’s closest losses came against GNC rivals. The Hodags led 2-1 late in the third period at Medford Jan. 8, only to allow the tying goal with less than 1:40 remaining in regulation and eventually losing in overtime, 3-2. After getting beat by Lakeland 10-0 earlier in the season, the Hodags were within two minutes of getting the rematch in Minocqua to overtime, before the T-Birds scored the go-ahead goal and added an empty-netter in a 3-1 victory. 

Rhinelander came up short in its first meeting against Chequamegon/Phillips, losing 7-6 despite a four-goal third period. The Hodags saw a 1-1 tie with Antigo after two periods Jan. 27 turn into a 4-1 loss. It was a similar story easy in the season against Waupaca when the Hodags rallied from a 4-0 deficit to make it 4-3 early in the third period before the Comets finished the game with three unanswered goals in a 7-3 victory. 

Perhaps the toughest third period of them all came in a holiday tournament game Dec. 29 against Manistique, Mich. Tied 1-1 with nine minutes to go, the Hodags surrendered six goals, including a pair of empty-netters, in a 7-1 loss.

“That score was not indicative of the game at all, but I was really disappointed in the ending and that we couldn’t apply pressure and try to create scoring chances versus giving up the open netters,” Laggis said. “But, you know, that is what it is. It was another learning experience for us as a group. And it was a hard-fought game against a team that’s about like us.”

Breakthrough win

Rhinelander finally had a few breaks go its way in a Jan. 20 rematch at home against Medford. The Hodags jumped out to a 3-1 lead after two periods. The Raiders made it 3-2 early in the third, but the Hodags were able to hold on from there to claim their first, and only, win of the season.

“I’ll be honest with you, when it was 3-2, late in the game, we had a couple real scary shifts where, where we did some things that weren’t necessarily perfect plays with the puck. In your mind, you kind of thought, ‘Oh, here we go.’ But I just thought, we did a good job of making the plays when we had to,” Laggis said. “They were pretty excited in the locker room after, and I was glad. We made some mistakes down the stretch in that third period, to say the least. However, the guys that were on the ice played really hard together, and they found a way.” 

Playoff repeat

A poor regular season record meant a low seed for the WIAA playoffs. For the third straight year the Hodags ended up as the eighth and final seed in their D2 sectional and, for a second straight season, their postseason run ended at the hands of the eventual state champion.

This time Northland Pines defeated Rhinelander 10-2 in the Eagle River Sports Arena. Though the game was closer than the 14-1 defeat the Eagles handed the Hodags back on Dec. 2, Rhinelander simply didn’t have the firepower to hang with a team that eventually knocked off Lakeland, Mosinee, Somerset and Amery on its path to the state title. 

“Our goal was to keep it as close as we could as long as we could and try to find a way and Pines absolutely outskilled us,” Laggis said afterward.

Statbook

Rhinelander could score goals. The Hodags were shut out only three times during the course of 24 goals this season. Scoring multiple goals proved to be an issue, however. 

Rhinelander only had four games in which it scored three or more goals, the last being its 3-2 win over Medford. Overall, the Hodags averaged just 1.63 goals per game.

Junior Drake Nelson was the team’s leader in that regard, with eight goals and seven assists on the year. But he was the only player who finished the season on the Hodags’ roster who tallied double digit points. 

Junior Kadin Rodziczak (5g, 4a) and senior Dylan Shefveland (2g, 7a) were close with nine points each. Sophomore Carson Plehn finished second on the team with six goals this season while junior Jack Turek added five and senior Logan Leonard had four.

“Boy, I’ll tell you, I wish as a group we could have buried a few more. And I’m hoping that we get a fire lit,” Laggis said after the playoff loss to Pines. “I think our top scorer on our team was 46th the conference this year. To be competitive in the conference, you need to get more kids up there and get them in the top 20, obviously. That’s a goal for these kids for next year.”

    In this Jan. 15, 2026 file photo, Rhinelander’s Drake Nelson tracks down the puck in front of Lakeland goalie Cam Bernard during the first period of a GNC boys’ hockey game in Rhinelander. Nelson led the Hodags in scoring this season, tallying eight goals and seven assists. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

On the other end, freshman Connor McGee faced a trial by fire this year as he was thrust into the starting goaltender’s role. He ended up playing the entire season in net, going 1-23-0 with a 7.46 goals against average and a .806 save percentage. McGee saw plenty of rubber come his way on the season as opposing teams averaged nearly 38.5 shots on goal per game against the Hodags. He recorded 40-plus saves on four different occasions, including a career-high 51-save effort against Mosinee. Statically, his best night came in the loss at Lakeland Feb. 3 when he stopped 35 shots on 37 chances. 

“That’s such an adverse situation. You know, you’re the goalie. You’re never taking a break. You’re never getting a shift, and you’re out there. There is no backup goalie,” Laggis said. “So it’s just you, and you’re out there, and it’s 8-2, and you’re in run time. I tell you what, for you to keep your head up as a freshman and keep fighting is a hard thing to do. And so I just give them a ton of credit for that. He came into a very difficult situation, playing in a very difficult position. And I was just really proud of how hard he tried.”

What’s next

The Hodags bid farewell to three seniors — Shefveland, Leonard and Ryan Carey — from this year’s squad and will look to turn the corner next year. While the team will look to improve its skills in the offseason, Laggis reiterated that the most significant gains will come by, collectively, getting bigger, faster and stronger.

“The way to really turn the corner with the group is you got to get them involved in the summer weight training,” he said. “It’s a very big misperception that weight training is all just football players — squat, deadlift. It is strength, speed, agility. As evidenced by the girls’ swim team and our cross country and boys’ basketball, and girls’ hoops. You can really take advantage of that summer program, big time … So, we’re just trying to get kids to believe in the weight program, work on their strength, speed, quickness, and it will pay off. And that’s a great way to build a backbone of a team.”

The Hodags are also slated to pick up a number of skaters from the Rhinelander Ice Association’s Bantam (14U) squad that played in the WAHA state tournament last month. With three RIA teams playing in state this winter, there’s talent coming through the ranks.

Fortunes can turn quickly in the GNC. Tomahawk and Northland Pines both went from last in the conference to state champions in the span of four years, a point Hodag assistant coach Wil Losch made to the players during the team’s banquet.

“We have a group of young men here. It’d be really cool to see what happens if we really push ourselves and how that culture should be,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].