Two of three doesn’t satisfy after a 4-3 loss

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY

The Medford Raiders set their sights at the beginning of this season on three teams in their WIAA girls hockey sectional they believed they could finally beat this year.

They got two of them for their first two wins of the year. They couldn’t quite get the third one Tuesday, though the Raiders will have at least one more shot this season at the Northern Edge Co-op.

Medford turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the third period of Tuesday’s Suicide Prevention and Awareness Game at the Simek Recreation Center. But the Rhinelander-based Edge didn’t give up either, putting in the tying goal 9:25 into the period and then winning it with just 24.2 seconds left on Wyndi Saari’s goal out of a scrum right in front of the net and Medford goaltender Ilsa Brunner.

It was the second exciting, down-to-thewire finish for the Raiders in three games, but unlike their 3-2 win at Northland Pines Friday, they came up short in this one.

“I really wanted this one for the girls,” head coach Scott Brandner said after the loss dropped Medford to 2-5. “The girls really wanted it. I asked them how bad they wanted it between the second and third periods and they said they wanted it bad. They went out and they showed me that. We took the lead and I thought all right, we’re going to go out and we’re going to keep it going.”

The Raiders actually got a break with 2:22 left they thought might help get them over the top. Skylier Krueger got a scoring chance off a pass from Victoria Konieczny and was pulled down in front of the net by the Edge’s Ella Koca for an interference penalty and a two-minute power play.

“I thought this is where we wanted to be,” Brandner said. “We’re going to put one in on them.”

Two shots by Medford following the ensuing face-off were deflected before they reached Edge goalie Hannah Mueller. Then a push into Medford’s defensive zone resulted in a hooking call on Raider Jaylin Machon with 1:25 left, creating a four-on-four situation for 1:03 before the Edge could end regulation with a power play.

The Raiders got a push into the offensive zone and a shot from Grace Schmidtfranz that Mueller stopped. The Edge then rushed to the other end of the ice, got a hard shot on goal from the blue line and kept poking at the loose puck and getting Saari’s goal before the Raiders could clear it.

The goal sent the Edge to their second win of the year against five losses. No Medford team has beaten the Edge since Feb. 6, 2012. The Raiders went 2-0-1 against the Edge that season.

Brandner felt the Raiders didn’t play a particularly sharp first period, but they came out of it in a 1-1 tie. Taylor Heleniak stole the puck in Medford’s zone and turned it into an unassisted score for the Edge just 2:27 in. But the Raiders finally answered at 15:44 when Ava Hartl blocked a shot at her blue line, picked up a loose puck at her blue line and took care of business from there with a breakaway score.

Medford’s play got sharper in the second period despite a lengthy stretch where the Raiders were short-handed. Twice, they were down two skaters, aided by a five-minute major. They fought off the first one, but the Edge got Medford on the second five-on-three with a Koca goal at 7:49. But once they got back to full strength, the Raiders applied some pressure and got the equalizer at 14:43 with a rebound goal from Eryka Seidl put in a rebound off a Zayleah Leonardt shot.

The Raiders took their 3-2 lead 3:17 into the third period while short-handed. Konieczny dug a puck out of the corner and centered it for Krueger, who beat Mueller to the short side.

The lead lasted for 6:08. Kristina Kunelius tied things up, knocking in her own rebound. Kassidee Linssen and Saari were credited with the assists.

The Edge outshot Medford 50-21. Brunner was solid as she has been most of the year with 46 saves. Mueller had 18 saves for the Edge.

The teams are scheduled to meet again on Jan. 13.

“Medford’s game with Houghton-Hancock, Mich. today, Thursday was canceled. Last Thursday’s game with the Hayward Co-op was postponed to Friday, Feb. 3. Medford is scheduled to host the Black River Falls Co-op at 6 p.m. on Jan. 3.

First win over Pines

In their season opener on Nov. 22, the Raiders got their first-ever win over the Wisconsin Valley Union co-op. On Friday, they got the program’s first-ever win over Northland Pines after 34 losses since the 2009-10 season. And, they did it in dramatic fashion.

Down 1-0 since the first period, Medford finally got the tying goal midway through the third period, gave up another goal and then won it with backto- back goals in the final two minutes. Alyssa Brandner got the equalizer with 1:57 left and then freshman Kara Kennedy won it with her first varsity goal with 54 seconds left.

“We struggled,” Scott Brandner said. “We outshot the heck out of them and we couldn’t put the puck in the net. I told them if you put one in they’re just going to keep going in. Nine something left in the third period they put one in and then it was boom, boom after that.”

The game was the first girls high school game ever played in Ironwood, Mich. as three seniors from the Pines coop hail from that city.

Medford outshot the Eagles 44-19 but none of those shots found the back of the net until Sophia Brunner finally beat Eagle goalie Jenna Uhrine 7:16 into the third to knot things at 1-1. Machon was credited with the assist.

Mallory Schmidt put Northland Pines back on top with an unassisted goal at 12:37, but the Raiders kept battling.

“Our tying goal came on a big battle in front of the net,” coach Brandner said. “The puck came popping up, Alyssa picked it up. Ilsa was talking to the girls before the game that they needed to shoot low on this girl (Uhrine). We started shooting low and they started to go in. Alyssa shot one low, in to tie it up. That gave us all the momentum.”

Kennedy made her big play scooping up the puck after Krueger won a face-off in Medford’s defensive zone.

“Very excited for Kara to get her first goal and it was the game winner,” Scott Brandner said. “We had a face-off down in our zone, Skylier battled with the girl, they were locked up and the puck just popped out a little bit. Kara came across the circle, picked it up, ripped it and it went in. It was great.

“It was exciting,” he added. “The girls were very excited. I told them I thought it was a first-time deal that we finally beat them. We’ve gotten two teams now that we’ve never beaten before. The big thing for us in this section is the Edge has lost to Wisconsin Valley Union last week, so that’s huge for us.”

Brunner collected 19 saves, 10 of which came in the first period. Eagle Hailey Krznarich got one by here 12:03 into the period with an assist from Schmidt. Uhrine had 41 saves, including 18 in the second period and 12 in the third.

Northland Pines is in a rare position for its program, sitting at 0-8.

Sabers 9, Raiders 2

In between the two games with sectional rivals, Medford was defeated 9-2 Monday by the host Chippewa Falls-Menomonie Sabers.

Schmidtfranz scored both goals, erasing an early 2-0 deficit. The first one was assisted by Leonhardt. Konieczny and Emily Kiselicka got the assists on the second one that tied the game 11:36 into the first period.

But Medford was outshot 23-4 in the period and 19-2 in the second and the Raiders eventually buckled, allowing four second-period goals and three more in the third.

Emma-lyn Stephenson scored three goals for the Sabers and had two assists. Addisyn Buesgen had two goals and an assist, Addison Frenette had a goal and two assists and Rhylee Buesgen was credited with three assists.

Stephenson scored all three of her goals in the second period.

Brunner finished with 49 saves on a busy night between the pipes. The Raiders put just seven shots on goal.