RHS loses 7th game in a row

STAR JOURNAL REPORT

The Rhinelander High School varsity boys hockey team could only muster one goal Tuesday night when the Hodags lost their Great Northern Conference home game to league-leading Northland Pines, 10-1.

“Northland Pines beat us soundly (Tuesday) night," said RHS head coach MJ Laggis. “We had some good shifts early with a solid level of effort but we took a 5-minute major boarding penalty and Northland Pines scored twice on that 5-minute man advantage. (The Eagles) are a good team that moves the puck very well in an umbrella power play…”

At right, the Hodags' Freddy Wisner carries the puck from behind the Rhinelander net in Tuesday's home game against Northland Pines.

The game was scoreless midway through the first period when Harlan Wojtusik received the 5-minute penalty for boarding. The Eagles got on the scoreboard 11:20 into the game on a power-play goal from Harmon Marien and added another power-play goal at 12:59 from Jack Rhode. Rhode then scored an even-strength goal with just over a minute left in the period to give Northland Pines a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission.

The Eagles added five even-strength goals in the second period to extend their lead to 8-0 with Brady Snedden scoring twice, Marien scoring again and goals also coming from Jack Brown and Tyler Hunt.

The Hodags broke the shutout by tallying their only goal of the game with 1:33 left in the second period when Freddy Wisner scored assisted by Abe Laggis.

Northland Pines picked up two more even-strength goals in third period with Max Brown and Lochlan Siegmeier both scoring.

The Eagles outshot RHS, 40-13, with Brett Wilkins recording the win in net and Seth Stafford picking up the loss in goal.

The loss was the seventh in a row for the Hodags, who dropped to 7-7 overall and 4-4 in the GNC going into Friday’s tournament at Merrill.

“It's been a tough stretch of games that we knew would be, but we have to get better,” MJ Laggis said. “We have played Pines twice, Antigo, Rapids and Kingsford in the last seven games, and those are five tough games. We are clear on the areas we need to improve on, and we will.

“We have worked hard in practice on our defensive zone game, but we clearly aren't seeing the results in the way we are playing in front of our own net in particular. We also continue to jam pucks up the boards in the defensive zone and mishandle breakout passes. We have also put a lot of effort into trying to create a quick transition game up ice, but we need to get a whole lot better in our passing and pass receiving in order to create more opportunities.”

Northland Pines remains undefeated in conference play at 9-0 and is 14-3 overall going in Friday’s game at Waupaca.

Eagles 10, Hodags 1

Eagles             3              5              2 – 10

Hodags           0              1              0 – 1