Hodag Highlights: Tough week for Hodag hockey

The Rhinelander High School boys hockey team faced a challenging week with two home losses as they continue searching for their first victory of the season.
Monday: Mosinee 8, Rhinelander 1
The Hodags welcomed Mosinee to the Rhinelander Ice Arena on Monday night, Jan. 12, for a makeup game originally scheduled for January 6 but postponed due to hazardous road conditions. The visiting Indians came out firing, jumping to an early lead and never looking back in an 8-1 victory.
Mosinee opened the scoring and built a 3-0 advantage before Rhinelander broke through. Senior Dylan Shefveland capitalized on a power play opportunity to put the Hodags on the board, cutting the deficit to 3-1. However, that would be as close as Rhinelander would get.
The Indians added another goal before the first period ended, then tacked on one more in the second period and three in the third to seal the lopsided win.

Despite the tough outcome, freshman goaltender Connor McGee turned in a remarkable performance between the pipes, stopping 51 shots to keep his team in the game for as long as possible.
Thursday: Lakeland 10, Rhinelander 0
The week didn’t get any easier for the Hodags, who hosted the Lakeland T-Birds on Thursday night at the RIA. Lakeland dominated from start to finish, blanking Rhinelander 10-0 in a game that saw the visitors overwhelm the home team on both ends of the ice.
The shutout loss marked another difficult outing for a Rhinelander squad still in search of its first win of the season. The Hodags will look to regroup as they continue their campaign and work toward breaking into the win column.