MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY - T-Birds cruise; Raiders rally late in 6-4 loss, earn a shutout win

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

The Medford Raiders kept the potent Lakeland hockey offense somewhat in check in the first period, but the Thunderbirds broke it open with a sixgoal second period and eased to an 11-0 win Tuesday at the Simek Recreation Center.

With the win, Lakeland improved to 5-1 in the Great Northern Conference and clinched the second seed in the league tournament which begins next Tuesday, Jan. 30. The T-Birds still host Rhinelander today, Thursday, to finish the round-robin portion of their league schedule and will get the seventh-seeded Hodags again Tuesday in round one.

Medford finished 0-7 in league play and, as the eighth seed, will visit top-seeded Tomahawk (7-0) in the Jan. 30 quarterfinals. Unless, a late addition or two is made to the schedule, Tuesday’s loss was the Raiders’ final home appearance of the 2023-24 season.

Medford head coach Klayton Kree said the Raiders weren’t at full strength Tuesday with illness running through the team, but they knew Lakeland (13-3 overall) would be a tough matchup, healthy or not.

Ian Dwyer scored twice, CJ Smith scored twice and seven other players added a goal apiece as Lakeland outshot Medford 44-6. Talan Albers had 33 saves for Medford and, according to Kree, had a challenging night against Lakeland’s wellexecuted screens in front of him.

“I think they scored four or five goals on the same-looking shot,” Kree said. “Pass it out to the D, they’d shoot it down, screen our goalie. The shot would come in and Talan just can’t see it. They had quick, good shots. They know where to place it.”

Dwyer’s first goal got Lakeland on the board at 4:34 in the first period and came on a power play. Smith added his first goal at 7:33. Both were assisted by Matt Haggart.

The second-period barrage started just eight seconds in with a goal from Aden Thiessen and goals at 3:12 from Al Meyer and at 3:56 from Aaron Wanta quickly made it 5-0.

Dwyer’s second goal came short-handed 1:27 into the third when he somehow got one into the top shelf from a nearly impossible angle from Albers’ left side.

Cam Bernard picked up the shutout win for the T-Birds with his six saves.

Medford, now 2-14 overall, is at the Shawano Co-op tonight, Thursday, looking to avenge a 5-2 loss from Dec. 22.

RAM 6, Medford 4

Penalties were a big story Friday in Medford’s 6-4 home loss to the Regis-Altoona-McDonell (RAM) hockey co-op.

The visitors took advantage of a long stretch of penalty killing by the Raiders and took a 5-0 lead late in the second period. But when RAM was the team getting hit with penalties in the final minutes, Medford made an impressive push, getting three quick goals, though the flurry came a bit too late.

Four different players scored for Medford, which was important considering leading scorer Tucker Phillips was out of the game after getting called for two five-minute major penalties in the second period. From then on, the game was officiated tightly resulting in most of the penalty portion on the official scoresheet getting filled up.

“They got that spark,” Kree said. “We got that goal late in the second. Tucker is one of our leading scorers. I went up to the locker room and I said, ‘we’re without Tucker, but you guys can score without him. You guys have proven that now.’ We talked today about elevating our game and playing all three periods and, aside from killing 10 minutes of penalties in the second, I felt like we actually played a full three periods today.”

A RAM tripping penalty with 1:22 left in the second period gave Medford a power play that the Raiders quickly took advantage of 18 seconds later. Isaac Schaefer carried the puck up the left side and pushed it ahead to Kaden Kennedy, who somehow got a shot through the five-hole from a tough angle on goalie Callan Laux to put Medford on the board.

Down 6-1 after a short-handed goal by RAM’s Brady Robinson, the Raiders closed the game on a scoring tear. Shorthanded at 14:25, Cameron Bull took a pass from Kennedy and sent it toward the net where Isaac Schaefer punched it in for the Raiders. After Medford’s penalty expired and a checking from behind major call on RAM, Bull skated across the blue line and rifled a shot that got by goalie Tucker Derouin to make it 6-3 with 1:19 left. Still on the power play, Bull got the puck into the slot area, where Noah Machon put it away with 15 seconds remaining.

“That third period, we just rocked it,” Kree said. “We kinda rode the momentum of the penalties and excitement in that and they turned it into goals. We talked about winning the third period and we won that by two goals. We had good puck control, good puck movement. They found each other. I think every goal had an assist on it. They’re starting to work together and become creative on their plays. That’s one thing I’ve been trying to preach in practice is creativity.”

Robinson had RAM’s first goal 10:26 into the first period. Albers moved quickly to his right to make a tough save on a shot by Garrett Burg, but the puck slipped by him and Robinson was the only one on the other side and banged in an easy garbage goal. Tanner Robinson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal 4:51 into the second.

The floodgates opened late in the period with Dallen Robinson getting one under the crossbar during a four-on-four situation at 11:54, Sam Bain getting a deflection at 13:30 and Brady Robinson getting free in the crease area and scoring at 14:14.

Albers had 49 saves for Medford. Laux had 10 saves in the first two periods and Derouin had five in the third for RAM. The teams combined for 59 penalty minutes with 37 charged to RAM.

“This is something to build on,” Kree said. “The guys proved they can play a high level of hockey even without a full team.”

6-0 shutout

On Thursday, Medford earned its second win of the season overall and second win of the season over the Chequamegon Co-op, earning a 6-0 shutout victory in Park Falls.

Albers stopped all 23 shots he faced as the junior earned his first varsity shutout.

“It was really nice to get Talan the shutout,” Kree said. “We do a little helmet ceremony after the game where we pass it around to someone who made good plays or was a leader during the game and we gave it to Talan. It was his first career shutout and he made a bunch of good saves. He had a two-on-none that he stuffed. They made a pass right in front of the net and Talan sprawled out and made a save on it. He played really well.”

Kree said Medford’s skaters were a bit up and down in the game, but they certainly had their best stretch in the second period, where they scored five of their goals.

Schaefer got a natural hat trick by scoring all three of his goals in the period. Bull added two and Phillips scored once in the win.

Bull got the game’s first goal 3:24 in off a Phillips assist. Medford was actually outshot by Team SEaL 11-8 in the first period. Schaefer’s unassisted short-handed goal made it 2-0 7:19 into the second period. Kennedy assisted on Schaefer’s second goal at 8:41. Just 56 seconds after that, Kennedy and Phillips assisted on Bull’s second goal. Phillips got a power-play at 11:46 with an assist and Schaefer’s shorthanded goal at 14:55 came with an assist from Bull.

“We were just getting outskated,” Kree said of the first period. “With Chequamegon being a short-handed team, there’s no reason for us to be outworked by a smaller team. But we came out in the second period and fought through a couple of stupid penalties early on. About six or seven minutes in we got some momentum from killing off those penalties and I think we got four quick ones. They were all very good plays. Our defensemen are now starting to shoot into the slot. We had a couple of really nice shots. Isaac had some really good plays with moving the puck and he deked out the goalie and made some nice shots.”

Tonya Dul had 11 saves in the first two periods for Chequamegon and Nolan Niehoff had six saves in the running-clock third period. Medford killed off 28 penalty minutes in the shutout win.

Shane Kiselicka deflects a pass in the defensive zone during Friday’s 6-4 loss. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS