MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY - Hockey team falls 4-2 to Rails, buried by Hatchets

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

Playing short-handed took on new meaning for Medford’s hockey team, who were down three skaters while falling twice in a three-day span last week.

On Saturday, the Raiders rallied late to cut a four-goal deficit in half, but it wasn’t enough in a 4-2 non-conference loss at Spooner. Cameron Bull punched in a power-play goal 12:26 into the third period to get Medford on the board and sophomore Cole Pernsteiner followed that up 44 seconds later with his first goal of the season and second of his career with 3:50 left.

But that’s where the scoring ended, leaving Medford with a 1-6 overall record, heading into a three-game stretch before the Raiders take a bit of a holiday break.

The Raiders are at Waupaca tonight, Thursday, for a Great Northern Conference matchup with the Comets. The Raiders will host the Frederic-based Burnett Blizzard Co-op Tuesday and the Shawano Co-op on Dec. 22 with the puck dropping in both games at 7 p.m.

Four different players scored for Spooner, who avenged a 4-3 overtime loss to Medford from last season. Deagan Cleveland got the first one just 2:24 into the game off a Jesse Morales assist. That was all of the scoring in a tightlycontested first period. Medford killed off one power play just after the goal. The period ended with Spooner holding a 10-5 advantage in shots.

Medford killed one second-period penalty, but not long after that, the Rails got an unassisted goal from Mason Sobralski at 10:15. Medford wasn’t as fortunate with its third penalty of the game, which resulted in a power-play goal for Morales at 12:33, assisted by Alex Kissack, that made it 3-0.

Spooner outshot Medford 15-4 in the second period and 13-6 in the third, where it got Cole Dolan’s unassisted goal at 6:51.

Medford goal tender Talan Albers had 34 saves in the loss. Defensively, the Raiders will now be without sophomore starter Gavin Phillips, whose shoulder issues are going to unfortunately end his season. Dalton Brummond had 13 saves between the pipes for Spooner, who improved to 2-1 at the time.

Tomahawk 10, Medford 0

The Tomahawk Hatchets came into Thursday’s Great Northern Conference game at the Simek Center averaging nine goals per game and they nearly equaled that in the first period alone in a 10-0 shutout win over Medford.

The Hatchets put this one away early by scoring seven times in the first 17 minutes against the undermanned Raiders. The first four came in a span of less than three minutes, starting at the 5:59 mark. Another flurry late in the period included three goals in a span of 2:18.

Hatchet Sawyer Hanna scored three goals and added an assist. Jonah Dickens scored the first two goals at 5:59 and 6:30 of the first period. He had two assists. Five other Hatchets scored a goal apiece. The Hatchets put 54 shots on goal with Albers saving 44. Tomahawk had a 28-3 edge in shots in the opening period.

The Hatchets scored their last two goals on power plays, one by Austin Lamer at 15:13 of the second period and the other by Rex Reilly 3:29 in to the third.

Medford finished with just six shots on goal. Trevor Seliskar had the three first-period saves. Andrew Samundsen had a save in the second period and two in the third.

Medford head coach Klayton Kree said it obviously wasn’t a well-played first period by his team, but he saw improvements after that. With three key players out, he said it opened up opportunities for others who got better as the game went on, being in the right positions and making the right plays.

Tomahawk improved to 2-0 in the GNC and 5-1 overall at the time.