Raiders advance to fifth-place game after blanking the Hodags
MEDFORD HOCKEY
The Medford Raiders stuck in two power play goals, only committed one penalty and got 42 saves from goal tender AJ Adleman Tuesday in the team’s fifth shutout win of the season, a 2-0 victory at Rhinelander in the consolation semifinal round of the Great Northern Conference tournament.
The win was Medford’s first in the two-year history of the GNC tournament and sends them to the fifth-place game to be played at 1 p.m. during the four-game GNC meet Saturday at Northland Pines.
The seventh-seeded Raiders, now 128-1 overall, will square off against fifthseeded Antigo, who beat Medford 2-1 at the Simek Recreation Center back on Dec. 17. Antigo beat Tomahawk 12-0 Tuesday in the other consolation semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, topseeded Northland Pines shut out fourthseeded Waupaca 5-0 and third-seeded Mosinee beat second-seeded Lakeland 3-2 in overtime.
So, Mosinee will face Pines in Saturday’s 7 p.m. championship game, while Waupaca gets Lakeland in the 4 p.m. third-place game and Tomahawk meets Rhinelander in the 10 a.m. seventh-place game.
Medford’s win Tuesday was the second in three games against the Hodags this season.
“It was a well-played game,” Medford head coach Galen Searles said of Tuesday’s win. “I think they have been our best matchup this year. We’ve had some good games with them.”
Had it not been for two power-play chances Medford had in the first two periods, the game may have gone to overtime at 0-0.
Carter Pernsteiner took advantage of Rhinelander’s first penalty, scoring at the 9:33 of the first period, 1:16 into the power play, with an assist from Austin Waldhart.
“We scored on what was arguably our best power play of the year,” Searles said. “We did a real good job of moving the puck, we used our points well and pounded the puck on the net. Carter finally got it and stuck it through the five-hole.”
Medford wasted no time on its next power play midway through the second period. Just five seconds after Hodag Joe Schneider was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, Connor Gowey was at the right spot at the right time, punching in a rebound off a shot from the blue line by Dalton Hraby at the 7:12 mark.
From there, the defenses on both sides held. AJ Adleman had 42 saves in the win, stopping 16 shots in the third period alone to preserve the win. Seth Stafford had 24 saves on 26 shots faced in a solid effort for the Hodags.
“They had a lot of shots, but they didn’t get as many second shots as we’ve given them in the past,” Searles said. “We were able to clean the puck out from in front of the net. Our passing was really good.
“AJ was on top of his game,” he added. “They did have some good chances. When we needed him to come up big. He did.” Medford will close the regular season by hosting the Barron-based co-op known as the Northwest Icemen tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. and then playing Antigo Saturday. Searles said the team is excited about getting a rematch with the Red Robins.
“It will be interesting to see where we stand with them at this point of the season,” Searles said. “The first game was so early that it’s hard to judge now. It was a 2-1 close game the first time. It will be interesting to see how much they’ve improved and how much we’ve improved since then.”
The Raiders learned Sunday they drew the sixth seed in their WIAA Division 2 sectional bracket and will travel to third-seeded Superior in the regional final Feb. 20.
