Early momentum doesn’t last in 7-2 loss to the Edge
MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY
The Medford girls hockey team cut an early 3-0 deficit to one, but that, unfortunately, was where the offense ended Monday in a 7-2 loss to the Northern Edge Co-op at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
Both first-period goals for Medford came on rebounds and gave the Raiders a lift after they quickly fell behind.
But the Northern Edge earned its second win of the season over the Raiders behind a four-goal, seven-point night from sophomore forward Taylor Heleniak. Making a comeback in the last two periods was made challenging by the Raiders going into several short-handed stretches with three penalties in each period.
The Edge improved to 2-10 for the season with Monday’s win, while Medford fell to 3-14 with two more regular- season games remaining this week. Heleniak got the Northern Edge’s first two goals. The first was unassisted at the 2:49 mark. The second came at 6:58 during the Edge’s first power play of the night with an assist from Kassidee Linssen. Linssen made it 3-0 at 8:35 deflecting the puck off the post and in after assists from Wyndi Saari and Heleniak.
But the Raiders responded and made it interesting by scoring twice in a span of 1:58.
First, at 10:13, Sophia Brunner’s shot was saved by Edge goalie Ellie Stank, but Grace Schmidtfranz was there to clean up the rebound for her second goal of the season. Eryka Seidl collected the second assist.
At 12:11, a Brunner shot on goal resulted in another score. This time, freshman Emily Kiselicka was there for the rebound to get her second goal of the year.
The period ended with the Edge leading 21-6 in shots and 3-2 on the scoreboard.
The Edge took control for good with a four-goal second period, outshooting the Raiders 16-2. Just 27 seconds into a power play, at 1:03, Maria Gironella sent in a blue-line shot that found its way through traffic and into the net. Maddi Roeser and Heleniak had the assists.
Heleniak scored off a Saari assist at 3:32 to make it 5-2. Heleniak got a steal and scored a short-handed goal to ruin Medford’s only power play of the night at 10:54. Mackenzie Wissbroecker’s score at 13:00, assisted by Heleniak, closed the scoring.
The Northern Edge outshot Medford 11-7 in a scoreless third period and had a 48-15 advantage over the entire game.
Medford goalie Alyssa Brandner stopped 41 of those shots, while Stank had 13 saves for the Edge. Medford killed off five of the Edge’s seven power plays.
The Raiders host 2020-21 state champion Chippewa Falls-Menomonie tonight, Thursday, at 6 p.m. in the rescheduled date of a Jan. 10 postponement. This is the final home game of the season for the Raiders and has been designated as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Night by the team with proceeds going toward local mental health services.
On Friday, Medford heads to Baraboo to take on the Badger Lightning Co-op in a 7 p.m. face-off.
From there, the Raiders will move on to WIAA tournament play. As the seventh seed in the seven-team D.C. Everest sectional, Medford will travel to play the second-seeded Hayward Co-op in a WIAA regional final Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The winner will play either the sixthseeded Northern Edge or third-seeded Superior-Northwestern (7-16) in a sectional semifinal Feb. 22.
