Raiders get two shutout periods in loss to Viroqua
MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY
Playing 51 minutes of solid hockey can be easier said than done, especially when the Medford Raider girls have been working with just eight to nine skaters in the first month of the season.
The Raiders got closer to that goal on Dec. 22, shutting out the Viroqua Co-op in the first and third periods. Unfortunately, the visiting Blackhawks pounced on their second-period opportunities and scored seven times to take home a 7-0 win.
Erin Simonson was credited with four goals, while Rachel Simonson had a goal and three assists to help the visitors improve to 3-2 for the year. The Raiders are still winless through six games.
“It was 0-0 in the first period and we came out into the second and we just kinda stopped moving,” Medford co-head coach Scott Brandner said. “We’re falling into that a little bit here and there. We have to work through that. We have to put three strong periods together.”
They put two together in this game against a team that had a few more available players, but not as many as the Raiders saw in their 11-0 loss to the stateranked Western Wisconsin Stars in their previous game Dec. 19.
“We’re close, we’re really close,” Brandner said. “Tonight was the first night in a while where we actually had two full lines and three on defense. It’s a little bit easier on the girls. We asked a lot of them last Saturday. Some of the girls played a lot of minutes, 40-some out of 51 minutes they played.
“It’s nice to play a team that girls are close in numbers,” he added. “They only had a few more than us, an extra line they could throw at us. We’ll take that, going against one extra line. Saturday, (Western Wisconsin) threw 20-some at us. That’s hard to tell eight girls to play 20-some girls.”
Despite being outshot 25-4, the Raiders got through the first period still locked in a scoreless tie. The Blackhawks, though, jumped ahead quickly in the second. Erin Simonson put Viroqua on the board 1:15 in with a Rachel Simonson assist. Just one minute later, Sylvi Shonka got the puck past Raider goalie Saige Duesing with an assist from Rhiannon Dehlin.
Erin Simonson’s goal off a Dehlin assist made it 3-0 at 5:14. Rachel Simonson got a breakaway chance during the game’s lone power play and made a nice move to score an unassisted goal at 8:44.
A Gabby Olson assist set up Cadence Dehlin with a clean look and a goal at 11:09. The Blackhawks crashed the net at 15:18, resulting in Erin Simonson securing her hat trick. Olson and Rachel Simonson had the assists. Erin Simonson got her fourth goal just 49 seconds later with Rachel Simonson and Olson again getting credited with assists.
Viroqua outshot Medford 19-2 in the second period and 13-0 in the third as the Raiders’ struggles to generate offense continued. They have two goals through six games.
“The first period was really strong,” Brandner said. “We had some good opportunities. We’re not hitting the net yet. That’s something we have to work on. Third period, we had some good shots. We have to get them in. We’re close.”
Duesing finished with 50 saves. Freshman Makenna Rudie got the shutout for Viroqua with six saves.
Medford is back on the ice Monday when it hosts the JV team from the Chippewa Falls-Menomonie Sabres coop in a 6 p.m. face-off. The Raiders will head south to face the Brookfield Glacier on Jan. 8. That co-op includes about 15 schools from suburban Milwaukee.
