MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY PREVIEW - Experienced team aims to improve its offense in 2024-25

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY PREVIEW

2024-25

The Medford Raiders may have never had a girls hockey team with as many combined years of varsity experience as this season’s senior- and juniordominated team does. And in 2024-25, the team aims to go on the offensive.

According to second-year head coach Tasha Schmidtfranz, the first two weeks of practice featured a bit of a shift in focus to the offensive end of the ice. The objective of the game is to put more pucks in the net than your opponent. The Raiders believe they have the skill and experience to do more of that this season.

“I have a good majority of the ladies that have played hockey for a number of years,” Schmidtfranz said Tuesday. “We are happy to welcome a few new players as well and they have been developing their skills rapidly. It certainly helps to just focus on conditioning and skills in the first couple weeks of practice, and less on systems. Having the large majority of the ladies being returning players, they already know the systems us coaches like to use to take control of the ice in the defensive, neutral and offensive zones.”

The Raiders’ first test of the new season came Tuesday when they traveled to Eagle River to take on the Northland Pines Co-op. The game took place after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. It was the first of three meetings between the team this season. The others will be in Medford Dec. 17 and Jan. 14. Last year, the Eagles won three close games with Medford, two by scores of 3-1 and another ended 5-2.

Medford’s home opener is set for 6 p.m. this coming Tuesday when the Raiders host the Wisconsin Valley Union Co-op at the Simek Recreation Center.

Of Medford’s 15 players, 12 are returning letter winners. Of those 12, six are seniors with three years of experience in the program, four are juniors with two years already invested in the program and two are returning sophomores.

As Schmidtfranz said, having that experience has made for a smooth start in practice.

“The first couple of weeks of practice are looking good,” she said. “The ladies are working very hard, pushing themselves and I even got a few ladies to comment that it was actually ‘fun’ doing conditioning drills.”

The Raiders are coming off a 5-14 season in 2023-24. The record may not show it, but they played their best hockey in the second half of the year, allowing just 3.6 goals per game in their last 11 contests. They allowed five or fewer goals in each game of that stretch except for one, an 8-0 loss to Superior, who was one of the state’s topranked teams at the time. In wins over the Stoughton Co-op, Beaver Dam Co-op and Viroqua Co-op in that stretch, the Raiders allowed a total of two goals.

Overall, Medford allowed a respectable 4.4 goals per game last year. But they are looking to boost their average of 1.7 goals scores per game. The experienced upperclassmen will play a big role in that.

“I think we have a very strong defensive group,” Schmidtfranz said. “This year we have been pushing on working at our offensive attack. We hope to be more in the offensive zone more than ever this year. Hockey is about a game of mistakes and we hope that we can be the team that can recover from those mistakes quicker than our opponents.”

The six seniors entering their fourth year with the program include Victoria Konieczny, who was the team’s leading scorer last year, with seven goals and five assists, and Grace Schmidtfranz, who added five goals and two assists. Megan Schaefer and Emily Kiselicka return. Kiselicka started last year as a forward and moved back to the defense in the second half of the year. She scored three goals. Defensemen Kelli Petrick and Carly Koski are back. Petrick scored a goal and had four assists last year, while Koski added two assists.

All six of these players give Medford flexibility with the ability to play anywhere they are needed. They will be key in Medford’s push this year for more scoring.

Junior Kara Kennedy, the Rib Lake rep on the team, moved up and gave Medford some scoring punch in the second half of

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY

Nov. 26 @ Nor. Pines Co-op, 6 p.m.

Dec. 3 WIS. VALLEY UNION, 6 p.m.

Dec. 10 HAYWARD CO-OP, 6 p.m.

Dec. 13 BROOKFIELD CO-OP, 7 p.m. Dec. 14 ARROWHEAD CO-OP, 4 p.m.

Dec. 17 NOR. PINES CO-OP, 6 p.m.

Dec. 19 EAU CLAIRE CO-OP, 6 p.m.

Jan. 4 B.R. Falls @ Sparta, 8 a.m. Jan. 4 Brookfield @ Sparta, noon Jan. 7 @ Chip. Falls-Men., 6 p.m.

Jan. 11 STOUGHTON CO-OP, 1 p.m.

Jan. 14 NOR. PINES CO-OP, 6 p.m.

Jan. 21 @ Cent. Wisc. Storm, 7 p.m. Jan. 31 BELOIT MEM. CO-OP, 7 p.m. Feb. 1 B.R. Falls @ Sparta, 8 a.m. Feb. 1 Cap City Co-op @ Sparta, noon Feb. 7 BEAVER DAM CO-OP, 7 p.m. Feb. 20-21 WIAA regional final Feb. 25 WIAA sectional semifinal March 1 Sectional final @ Superior March 6 State semifinals @ Middleton, 4 p.m.

March 8 State championship @ Middleton, noon last year, finishing with six goals and four assists. Rivalee Stokes had a goal and three assists and Ava Hartl, who hopes to work her way back from a summer knee injury, scored a goal and added three assists last year as well.

The fourth returning junior is Zayleah Leonhardt. After a solid sophomore year in goal, with an .876 save percentage on more than 650 shots faced, the plan is to have Leonhardt back in a skating position. She had two goals and six assists as a freshman. In the one game she got to skate last year, she had a hat trick in a 10-1 win over the Houghton-Hancock, Mich. U19 team.

Taking over as the team’s goaltender is returning sophomore Chloe Pipkorn.

“We have a new goalie who has been working very hard for her team,” Tasha Schmidtfranz said. “We hope she can get cold a few times standing in net. We look at protecting her and our net and keeping the puck down in the offensive zone as much as we can. We’re hoping that we can have more goals, and shots on goals this season than we have over the past four seasons. Another big goal is we want no unforced turnovers this season.”

Lilyana Kujawa, a new hockey player as a freshman last year, is back. She got an assist in Medford’s last win of last year, a 6-0 victory over the Viroqua Co-op.

The team’s three newcomers this season are senior Talyn Peterson, whose name may sound familiar as she is an All-Great Northern Conference soccer player for Medford, junior Jordyn Fryklund and freshman Madison Mattke.

Medford hopes to take advantage of one of the most home-friendly schedules it has had in recent memory.

After the opener at Pines, the longest road trips the Raiders will take are two Saturday trips to Sparta for triangulars hosted by the Black River Falls Co-op on Jan. 4 and Feb. 1. The Hayward, Stoughton and Beaver Dam co-ops will skate in Medford on Dec. 10, Jan. 11 and Feb. 7. Medford will face the Beloit Memorial Co-op for the first time in a Jan. 31 home game.

Another early highlight is a quad the Raiders will host Dec. 13-14. Medford will face the Brookfield Glacier Coop Friday night and the Hartland Arrowhead Co-op on Saturday. Northland Pines is the fourth team in that quad.

The Raiders will continue to challenge themselves against more of the region’s large co-ops like the defending state champion Central Wisconsin Storm, the Eau Claire Stars and the Chippewa Falls-Menomonie Sabers. Superior is not on the regular-season schedule but is in the WIAA sectional bracket.

“For the returning junior and senior players I look forward to seeing them all showcase their talent,” Tasha Schmidtfranz said. “I really look forward to seeing how they can take pride in having a smaller team within the girls hockey community and show that we can deliver a very strong and well-structured team that can be competitive against the larger girls hockey organizations.

“As always we’re hoping to have over a .500 season this year.”