Waupaca shoots past Raiders with four-goal first period

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

Eli Bartel, Jed Vanden Bush and James Sternweis scored two goals each to lead the Waupaca Comets to a 9-1 Great Northern Conference win over the Medford hockey team Thursday at the Waupaca Expo Center.

The Comets skated to an 8-0 second-period lead before Austin Stauffer put Medford on the board with his team-leading seventh goal of the season. It was unassisted and came 9:39 into the period.

Waupaca outshot Medford 28-20. Raider goalie Ben Brunner collected 19 saves, including 10 in a busy second period. Medford outshot the Comets 10-0 in the running-clock third period. All 10 shots were stopped by Brody Berens. Hagen Rasmussen had nine saves in the first two periods.

Waupaca scored four goals in two quick first-period bursts. Vanden Bush scored at 7:23 and Bartel got a power-play goal 1:34 later. Max Gusmer made it 3-0 with 57 seconds left in the 17-minute period and Sternweis tacked on another with eight seconds to go.

Vanden Bush (2:13) and Vin Nikolai (4:12) scored early in the second to push the lead to 6-0. Eli Bartel and Elliot Bartel scored seven seconds apart at 6:47 and 6:54. Sternweis got the game’s last goal with 24 seconds left in the second period.

Medford had two power-play chances but was unable to convert. Waupaca was one for two.

Waupaca improved to 1-2 in the GNC and 3-4 overall, while the Raiders fell to 0-3, 1-5.

Medford traveled to face the Shawano Co-op Tuesday in non-conference action. That game took place after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. After a seven-game road swing to start the season, Medford will finally be home Tuesday, Dec. 29 when it hosts the always-tough Northland Pines Eagles in GNC play at 7 p.m.