Amery sets an early tone and races to WIAA playoff victory

WIAA DIV. 2 BOYS HOCKEY

A five-goal barrage in the first period quickly put the Medford hockey team’s chances of an upset on ice Thursday in what wound up being a season-ending 12-0 defeat to the third-seeded Amery Coop in a WIAA Division 2 regional final.

The Warriors improved to 16-7 for the year with steady offensive pressure throughout. The Warriors outshot Medford 46-10 and put the running clock into effect early while advancing to a sectional semifinal at second-seeded New Richmond (10-14) that was postponed until Wednesday. The winner will face either top-seeded Rice Lake (14-7) or fourthseeded Hayward (11-13-1) in the sectional final Friday in Amery.

“That’s a good team in Amery,” Medford head coach Galen Searles said. “We played decent. They were much faster and had a huge bench.”

The sixth-seeded Raiders finished the year at 6-16.

About a minute after Raider Brayden Machon put one shot just wide of the net and put another one on goal, the Warriors held the puck in Medford’s defensive zone for a long shift and paid it off with Maxwell Mike flipping the puck over goalie Ben Brunner’s right shoulder and sneaking it under the crossbar from point-blank range. The goal 4:11 into the game was assisted by Cayden Meyer and Vincent Greene.

At 6:22, Mike slipped a wrist shot from face-off circle to Brunner’s left underneath the Raider goalie to boost the lead to 2-0. Meyer had the assist. At 9:34, Medford cleared the puck from its defensive zone, but Amery sent it back from blue line to blue line and Reece Atkins wound up with unexpected breakaway and buried it.

Mike completed his natural hat trick just 29 seconds later, rebounding a shot by William Jensen, and 18 seconds after that, at 10:21, Forrest Alton’s deflection went to just the right spot in the upper corner to make it 5-0. Jensen had the assist.

Greene got the sixth goal of the period at 14:57 off Meyer’s third assist to cap a well-executed two-on-one rush. Amery outshot Medford 24-3 in the period.

With running clock already in effect in the second period, Amery outshot Medford 8-3 and put two more goals on the board.

Greene whistled a perfect top-shelf shot over Brunner’s right shoulder 8:38 into the period with assists from Mike and Taylor Gariepy. Justin Walter scored off a face-off won by Atkins at 12:46.

Aaron Collins, Kruse Yuhas, Stuart Hellie and Walter got Amery’s goals in the third period with Walter’s goal coming on a power play with 2:55 left.

Medford had just one power play late in the opening period. Amery was one for two. A third penalty on Medford was called as time expired.

Brunner finished with 38 saves in his final outing as Medford’s two-year starter in goal. Avery Starzecki had 10 saves for the Warriors.

After the loss, Medford also says goodbye to seniors Brayden Machon, the team’s leading scorer this season, and Colbe Bull, one of its top defensemen. The Raiders hope to bring back the remaining 10 players on the roster and add some much-needed depth in 2022-23.