MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY - Girls hockey team shut down twice after scoring first-period goals
MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY
The Medford Raiders generated some early pressure and scored twice in a span of a minute in the first period Tuesday afternoon, but that was all they got offensively and fell 4-2 to the Copper Country 19U squad from Houghton-Hancock, Mich.
Copper Country evened the season series after losing in Medford 6-3 back on Jan. 2. The team got out of the highscoring first period with a 3-2 lead, then the defense and goalie Naudia Meneguzzo shut out Medford the rest of way. Meneguzzo finished with 21 saves.
Copper Country finished with a slight 24-23 edge in shots on goal. Neither team succeeded in three power plays. Chloe Pipkorn had 20 saves in net for the Raiders, who fell to 6-13-2 overall for the season.
After Annika Huagland gave Copper Country a 1-0 lead 3:00 in with an unassisted goal, Medford got its back-toback strikes to take a short-lived 2-1 lead. Tori Konieczny got the first one at 6:30, aided by Ava Hart’s third assist since she returned to the lineup almost two weeks ago. Exactly one minute later, Zayleah Leonhardt’s unassisted goal put Medford in front.
Copper Country responded with a quick flurry of its own. Chloe Mikus tied it at the 9:00 mark with assists from Audrie Wakeham and Huagland. At 10:30, Chloe Serafin put the home team ahead with an assist from Mikus. Medford outshot Copper Country 10-9 in the period.
The game’s last goal came 4:00 into the second period and was scored by Ella Schneiderhar with an assist from Tessa Meneguzzo.
A late addition to the schedule will give the Raiders one last home game tonight, Thursday. They will host the defending WIAA state champion Central Wisconsin Storm at 7 p.m., making up a Jan. 21 game that was originally scheduled to be played in Wausau. The Storm come into the game with a 19-3 record and, on Sunday, drew the top sectional seed in the upcoming WIAA tournament.
Medford is the sixth seed and will open the post-season with a regional final contest at the third-seeded Hayward Coop (17-5-1) on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. The two teams met back on Dec. 10 with the Hurricanes winning 9-0 at the Simek Center. The Raiders and Hurricanes will meet in the regional round for the fourth straight season. Hayward won 6-0 last year, 11-0 in 2023 and 14-0 in 2022.
The top three teams in the sectional bracket all appear capable of winning it as they are ranked second, third and fourth in the state behind the Green Bay Area Ice Bears. The Storm secured the top seed by beating second-seeded Superior-Northwestern 2-0 on Saturday at D.C. Everest. Hayward, however, earned a 1-1 record against the Storm early this season. Central Wisconsin beat the visiting Hurricanes 3-0 on Nov. 30, but Hayward avenged that loss with a 3-2 win at the University School of Milwaukee tournament Dec. 7.
The Storm’s other losses were 5-4 in overtime to the fifth-ranked St. Croix Valley Fusion at the Culver’s Cup tournament in Madison Dec. 27 and a 4-3 loss at home on Jan. 4 to a strong Gentry Academy team from Minnesota.
Hayward and Superior-Northwestern (18-4) play each other tonight in Superior. The teams have already met once with the Spartans taking a 6-2 road win over the Hurricanes on Dec. 20. Both teams play their fair share of Minnesota teams in the regular season. The Spartans have beaten the Fusion twice.
The fourth-seeded Wisconsin Valley Union has wins over the Northland Pines Co-op and Medford. Pines went 2-1 against Medford this season.
Beavers 7, Raiders 1
On Friday, the Raiders got the first goal and, overall, played a strong first period, but a second-period avalanche of goals by the visiting Beaver Dam Co-op took away the good vibes and set the Golden Beavers to a 7-1 win.
To be exact, it was a six-goal second period for the visitors, just enough for a running clock in the third period that put an end to any comeback thoughts for Medford and sent Beaver Dam to a 16-6 record at the time. The Beavers tacked on another win Saturday, going on to Eagle River and defeating the Northland Pines Co-op 4-3.
Addy Damon had two goals and the other five goals for the victors were spread through five other skaters. Emersen Damon had a goal and two assists as did Addison Hoekstra.
Medford freshman Maddie Mattke got credit for the game’s first goal. At the 4:48 mark of the first period, Raider defenseman Grace Schmidtfranz sent the puck into traffic in front of the net and Beaver Dam goalie Dot Baker. Mattke got her stick on it for the deflection and the score.
The 1-0 lead lasted just over three minutes. Hoekstra and Addie Smedema had the assists on a breakaway goal by Emersen Damon. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie with Medford holding a 12-10 advantage in shots on goal.
Addy Damon’s unassisted goal 1:15 into the second period put the Golden Beavers in the lead. Goals 10 seconds apart by Hoekstra and Olivia Bates at 5:20 and 5:30 made it 4-1 and got the momentum fully on the visitors’ side. Smedema scored at 8:15, Addy Damon got her second goal at 12:30 and the team’s leading scorer on the season, Brenna Rhodes, got the goal in a scramble in the front of the net with 10 seconds left in the period to give Beaver Dam its six-goal lead.
Beaver Dam only had a 29-22 advantage in shots on goal by game’s end. Baker had 21 saves while Pipkorn had 22. Medford was unsuccessful in two power plays, one of which came in the game’s last minute. Beaver Dam did not score on its only power play.
MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
