Effort is there, but conference rivals too much for hockey team

A little closer to full strength with the return of senior Cameron Bull from injury, the Medford hockey team created some scoring opportunities, especially early Tuesday at Northland Pines, but Eagle goalie Evrett Leslie was up to the challenge in his team’s 5-1 win.

Leslie stopped 22 of the 23 shots Medford put on goal, while the Eagles got two goals late in the first period to take control of the Great Northern Conference. Medford finally broke the shutout late in the third period, but it was too little, too late.

“The score doesn’t show the game,” Medford head coach Klayton Kree said. “We had great offensive zone pressure, but their goalie had an answer for every shot. We played a solid game.”

Even with two penalties, Medford outshot Pines 9-5 in the first period. The second of those penalties, however, gave the Eagles a power play they quickly took advantage of with August Nordine getting the goal at 10:24, assisted by Josh Graves. Nordine got the second one as well at 15:35 with assists from Easton Otto and Julian Merschdorf.

Merschdorf made it 3-0 9:36 into the second period, just after a power play had expired to add to the Eagles’ lead. Sam Shrock assisted on that one. The period ended with double coincidental roughing penalties being called on the Eagles’ Sage Olson and Medford’s Isaac Schaefer. That put Schaefer at four penalties for the game which ended his night, leaving Medford thin once again on its back line.

Pines put the game away with goals by Morgan DePuydt 1:31 into the third and Graves at 10:58. Medford got on the board at 11:36 when its leading scorer, Tucker Phillips, lit the lamp with an assist from Bull.

Talan Albers had 24 saves for Medford, with half of those coming in the third period. He had nine saves in the second period.

The Eagles improved to 2-3 in conference play and 6-8 overall. Medford now sits at 0-5 and 1-11.

Next up for the Raiders is their annual visit East-Merrill United weekend tournament in Merrill. Medford will play the host team at 8 p.m. Friday, following the opener between Rhinelander and Jeffers, Mich. The losers play at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by the championship game at 1 p.m.

A tough GNC matchup at Mosinee follows on Tuesday. The Raiders will be at Chequamegon at 6 p.m. on Jan. 18 and host the Altoona Co-op the next night at 7 p.m.

Hodags 7, Raiders 2

On Thursday, the Raiders returned to the ice after a two-week break from competition and showed improvement in some areas, but still short on defensemen with Bull out with a lingering knee injury they were buried by a four-goal second period and dropped a 7-2 decision to visiting Rhinelander.

Gavin Denis led the Hodags with three goals and an assist, while Joey Belanger scored twice and added three assists in a matchup between the last two teams without a GNC win this season.

“Usually I’d have Kaden Kennedy, Tucker Phillips and someone else on a line,” Kree said. “Having to bring Kaden back because we’re short on defensemen and Jacob Doyle now too with Gavin Phillips being out, we’re just trying to scramble and figure out lines.

“They worked really hard this game,” Kree added. “They came out with some spark in the first period. I was really happy to see that. They had a really good first period. We had some weaker play in the second period and then we came back firing in the third period. We outscored them 2-1 in the third period, made it somewhat of a game at the end.”

Down 7-0, Medford got its goals following simultaneous slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on Rhinelander 11:04 into the third period. Just eight seconds into the five-on-three, Schaefer’s slap shot from the blue line got by Rhinelander goalie Tyler Kimmerling and broke up the Hodags’ shutout bid.

Tucker Phillips then made Rhinelander pay for the unsportsmanlike penalty at 12:47, skating up the left side of the ice and whistling a shot over Kimmerling’s left shoulder for an unassisted power play goal.

“Isaac had a great goal,” Kree said. “Tucker won the face-off, got it back to Kaden. Kaden slid it over and Isaac made a great shot. Tucker had a really nice sniper in the top right corner. That was good to see.”

Belanger got Rhinelander on the board, firing a hard wrist shot following a faceoff over the right shoulder of Albers at the 8:54 mark of the first period. Denis got his first goal at 15:21, taking a centering pass from the corner from Dylan Shefveland.

The 2-0 deficit through one period certainly wasn’t insurmountable, but the Raiders were knocked out on the second.

Shefveland scored off a centering pass from Denis just 40 seconds into the period. Timber Cronauer knocked in his own rebound 5:47 and at 12:20, Belanger picked up the puck after an errant Medford pass, skated in from the right boards and got a point-blank shot on Albers that was stopped. But the puck found its way to Denis near the blue line and he zipped a shot through traffic that found the net.

The game’s first penalty led to a powerplay goal for Denis on a wraparound wrister at 14:18 that put the running clock into effect. Belanger beat two Raider defenders and scored 58 seconds into the third.

Albers had 24 saves while Kimmerling finished 14 for the Hodags, including six in each of the last two periods.

After there was just one penalty called through the first two periods, there were seven in the third, four on the Hodags and three on Medford.

“The guys worked hard and some of the things we’ve been working on in practice are starting to make their way into the game,” Kree said. “They played well. I was happy with how they played.”