Despite loss, Raiders finish on high note at Pines

WIAA GIRLS HOCKEY

The sixth-seeded Medford Raiders knew the odds were against them going into Friday’s WIAA girls hockey regional final and getting outshot 60-4 made winning pretty much impossible.

But the effort in their 5-0 loss at third-seeded Northland Pines left the coaches and players with an upbeat feeling as their 2020-21 season came to an end.

The result was the closest in three meetings with the Eagles this season and the Raiders were actually a bad break or two from staying within two to three goals of Pines, who maintained its perfect record over Medford since the Raiders became a varsity program in 2009-10.

The Raiders certainly felt better about the way this one went compared to their last trip to Eagle River on Jan. 18 when they were beaten 10-0 and lost their top offensive threat, Kyla Kennedy, for the season with a hip injury. With the loss, Medford finished with a 3-13 record.

“Pines is a really good team that ended its season playing at a high level, and I think our girls ended the season playing really well too,” Medford co-head coach Jenna Wieting said. “We were proud of them. We had a couple of scoring opportunities, but we just couldn’t quite get the job done. But everybody played really well. With the small team we had this year, everybody has to. They definitely played their best game they played all year.”

The key point in the game came in the final half-minute of the opening period. Medford held Northland Pines scoreless until Grace Wittkopf scored into an open net off a perfect assist from Emma Sima 12:29 into the period. The Raiders were on the verge of getting out of the period with just that 1-0 deficit, but with 20 seconds left Eagle Mallory Schmidt took a shot that ricocheted off of the skate of Medford defenseman Kristen Brandner and past otherwise well-positioned goalie Saige Duesing to make it 2-0.

Off the ensuing face-off, Madison Stebbeds gained control of the puck and carried it into the offensive zone and got off a shot with 10 seconds left. Duesing made the save, but the rebound went right to Wittkopf, leaving Duesing no chance. Just like that, it was 3-0.

From there, Duesing stopped 39 of 41 shots and the Raiders allowed just a goal in each of the next two periods. Wieting credited the team for staying positive after the unfortunate end to the first period.

“As with any game, we can’t afford to hang our heads when that happens,” she said. “I know I heard some of them saying, we’re only down by two, we can do this.”

In the second period, Schmidt hit the crossbar early on and Duesing got the save on a two-on-one chance for the Eagles before Schmidt carried the puck into the offensive zone at 5:42 and dropped a pass to Julia Nesbitt, who somehow snuck the puck inside the right post that Duesing seemed to have well protected.

The Raiders killed off a penalty and then had some scoring chances late in the period when Skylier Krueger got a solid shot on net from just inside the blue line and, in the final seconds, Alyssa Brandner sent the puck toward the net and Sophia Brunner just missed getting her stick on it for a chance to deflect it past goalie Ashlynn Boxrucker.

Wittkopf completed her hat trick 4:03 into the third period, carrying the puck end to end and scoring through the five-hole.

Duesing finished with 55 saves. The Raiders killed off both of their penalties in the fast-moving game, while the Eagles had one first-period penalty the Raiders did not score on.

“Saige had a really good game,” Wieting said. “She’s played really well all year. She works really hard and does what she needs to do. She’s really good at recognizing what she needs to work on and that’s the first step to becoming a real good player at anything.”

Pines advanced to a sectional semifinal Tuesday against the second-seeded Central Wisconsin Storm and lost 4-1 to end its season at 9-8-2.

The Raiders will lose Kristen Brandner and forward Karli Higgins to graduation. Wieting said the improvements both made in their time in the program were noteworthy. Brandner came on board as a freshman with no hockey experience and turned into a captain this season who logged the most ice time of any skater. Higgins joined late in her freshman season and ended her career as one of Medford’s top forwards.

Wieting said there’s some true potential for more

DOUG ETTEN/VILAS COUNTY NEWS REVIEW

depth to join the program in the next couple of years, which will hopefully help the Raiders build upon the improvements made this season by the rest of the roster.