STAR JOURNAL REPORT

The Rhinelander High School varsity boys hockey team did all the scoring in the first two periods Tuesday when the Hodags held on in the final 17 minutes and defeated Tomahawk, 5-3, in Great Northern Conference action at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.

“I am proud of our kids for hanging in there and getting a win, even though we weren’t playing well,” said RHS head coach M.J. Laggis said.

The Hodags jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Hunter Hicks scored their first goal unassisted 4:51 into the game. RHS added the next two goals with less than 2:30 left in the period when Freddie Wisner scored at 14:33 assisted by Bridger Flory and Ethan Pequet put in the puck at 15:56 assisted by Logan Wild and Tyler Blomdahl.

The only goal of the second period was tallied by the Hodags’ Dylan Roeser assisted by Danny Zuiker and Hicks.

The Hatchets, who did all their scoring in the third period, cut RHS’s lead in half on consecutive goals by Cody Scholz and Hunter Jones before Roeser tallied the Hodags’ final goal with just over 8 minutes left in the game. Tomahawk then closed out the scoring on a goal by Kole Woodall.

“We just didn’t execute like we would have liked,” Laggis said. “It was nice to get a win, though through some timely goal scoring and some timely saves.”

Shots on goal favored the Hatchets, 26-22. Cody Pratz made 23 saves to record the win in net for RHS.

The Hodags, who are on a three-game winning streak, improved to 2-8 in the GNC and 6-10 overall going into Thursday’s conference game at Lakeland Union High School.

Hodags 5, Hatchets 3

Hatchets              0              0              3 – 3

Hodags                 3              1              1 – 5