MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY - Buried by Hatchets in tourney opener; boys also fall at Shawano

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

MATT FREY

SPORTS EDITOR

The first eight/one upset in the history of the Great Northern Conference hockey tournament won’t happen this year. The Tomahawk Hatchets made sure of that Tuesday by outshooting Medford 36-7 over the first two periods and outscoring the Raiders 8-2 in that time en route to an 11-2 victory.

The Raiders got goals from Shane Kiselicka and Tucker Phillips, but couldn’t slow down the Hatchets’ high-powered offense attack that has outscored each of Tomahawk’s GNC opponents so far in the 2023-24 season.

Sawyer Hanna and Caleb Dickens each scored three goals for hat tricks and Austin Lamer added two goals in the Hatchets’ win, which sent them to a tournament semifinal matchup with fourthseeded Mosinee this coming Tuesday. The eighth-seeded Raiders will go to fifthseeded Antigo for a consolation semifinal Tuesday at 7 p.m. Fourth-seeded Mosinee beat Antigo 8-1 Tuesday.

Chalk also held on the other side of the bracket, where third-seeded Waupaca took care of sixth-seeded Northland Pines 7-1 and second-seeded Lakeland was a 5-1 winner over seventh-seeded Rhinelander.

It didn’t take long for Tomahawk to set the tone Tuesday at the Sara Park rink. Dickens scored just 16 seconds in, assisted by Hanna and Caiden Reichelt. Hanna made it 2-0 with assists from Reichelt and Lamer at 2:28 and Lamar added a powerplay goal at 8:50, assisted by Reichelt and Dickens.

Kiselicka’s unassisted goal, the sophomore’s first goal of the season, came at 12:29 and stopped Tomahawk’s momentum momentarily. But the Hatchets’ top line put one more on the board before the first period ended. Hanna got the goal at 15:43. Reichelt got his fourth assist of the period and Lamer got his second.

Medford had one penalty in the second period and Tomahawk took advantage, getting its second power-play goal of the game at 2:39. Brayden Lamer scored it, assisted by Landyn Seymour and Logan Seymour. Jonah Dickens made it 6-1 at the 5:05 mark and Dickens got his second goal of the game 19 seconds later before the Raiders took advantage of their only power play of the night with Phillips’ goal at 7:32. Kaden Kennedy had the assist.

Dickens completed his hat trick at 10:17, giving the Hatchets their 8-2 lead.

With running clock the rest of the way, Tomahawk got third-period goals from Hanna, Austin Lamer and a power-play goal from Mason Jaecks.

Talan Albers was busy in goal for the Raiders, stopping 35 shots, including 17 in the first period and 11 in the second. Tomahawk’s Trevor Seliskar started and stopped three of four shots in 24:21 of net time. Andrew Samundsen had nine saves on 10 shots over the remaining 26:39.

The Raiders, now 2-16 overall, head northwest Friday to take on the Frederic Co-op Blizzard at 7 p.m. Friday in nonconference play. The game will be played at the Siren Ice Arena.

WIAA seeding is scheduled to be completed on Sunday.

Shawano 8, Medford 5

The Raiders found their offense Thursday night, but they weren’t able to stop the host Shawano Co-op from scoring as well in an 8-5 non-conference loss.

A three-goal spurt in the second period turned a 3-2 game into a 6-2 game and created a deficit the Raiders weren’t able to dig out of. The Raiders put 34 shots on goal, including 13 in the third period. But Kaiden Thornborrow collected 34 saves for the Hawks to keep them in front throughout.

Cameron Bull had Medford’s first two goals. His unassisted goal with 1:07 left in the first period cut the Shawano Co-op’s early two-goal lead in half. The Hawks got goals from Maxwell Huntington at 5:11 and Cameron Schroeder at 8:36. Five penalties between the two teams in the opening period was a sign of things to come.

The last penalty of the period, a fiveminute high-sticking major as time expired, led to a power-play goal for the Hawks’ Blake Knope 4:27 into the second period. Bull answered with his second unassisted goal of the game at 5:35 to pull the Raiders within 3-2.

But Josh Fisken scored just 1:33 later, setting off the key three-goal spree. Karson Stoss scored on another Shawano power play at 9:21 and a Stoss goal at 13:22 made it 6-2.

The Raiders didn’t quit, getting a Noah Machon goal off a Phillips assist at 14:26.

Isaac Schaefer’s goal off another Phillips assist 1:36 into the third period made a comeback look possible at 6-4. Knope, however, got one right back for the Hawks at 2:40. The Raiders lost Bull at 8:18 after he and Knope were called for coincidental roughing penalties. Bull got additional penalties tacked on including a game misconduct. Eleven seconds later, Adian Beaulieu stuck in a power-play goal to put Shawano back up by four.

Schaefer’s second goal of the game, a short-hander with 4:41 left, closed the scoring in the contest.

Medford got 23 saves from Albers in the loss. Medford had eight power-play chances but did not score on any of them. The Hawks were three of 10.