MEDFORD HOCKEY PREVIEW - Hockey team will have to rely on youth, but aims to improve

MEDFORD HOCKEY PREVIEW

Youth will be a theme this winter for the Medford hockey team, but there are signs the Raiders can make an upward move after a tough 2-20 season a year ago.

With second-year head coach Klayton Kree and assistant Connor Gowey having settled in and feeling more comfortable in their positions and 10 returning letter winners, there is a core group that wants to get the program headed in the right direction.

Seven newcomers have brought a little more depth to the program, which is now a three-school co-op. Those additions have played their fair share of hockey in the past, which should help them as they adjust to the speed and physicality of high school varsity hockey.

Medford officially hit the ice for its first practice on Nov. 11, got a chance to evaluate things in scrimmage sessions with Hayward and host Ashland on Nov. 19, and played its first game Tuesday at the Altoona Co-op. The opener took place after the early holiday deadline for this week’s issue of The Star News.

“It’s a very, very young team,” Kree said before the team’s practice Thursday at the Simek Recreation Center. “But I think a lot of those guys are coming in with a good mental game where they want to compete and get better. They want to take it to the next level.”

At Ashland last week, Kree said the Raiders looked good in the first session against the host Oredockers.

“The first scrimmage against Ashland actually went very well,” he said. “It probably took about four minutes for the guys to kinda get their feet under them, especially the younger guys. But they executed a lot of the stuff that we worked on in practice very well. Our breakouts were looking really good and we had plenty of scoring chances. We saw a lot of good things in that first one.

“That second one (against Hayward) was one that showed there’s still a lot of work needed,” Kree added. “We had some mental lapses on our defensive zone, wings not in position, defensemen not in position. All it takes is for one guy to not be in his spot and then everybody’s trying to scramble to fix that zone. We gave up some easy goals. We watched film the next day and they were able to see the things we did wrong.”

Defense is the area where the Raiders’ inexperience may show early on. While senior Talan Albers returns as the teams’ top goalie, the Raiders lost Cameron Bull and Isaac Schaefer, their top two blue-line enforcers from a year ago to graduation.

Junior Gavin Phillips is hoping to return to action in early December and he completes his recovery from a shoulder issue from his football season. That leaves junior Shane Kiselicka and sophomore Jacob Doyle as the leaders in the first couple of games. Freshmen Will Harris and Easton Mosentine will see a lot of ice time as well. “Easton and Will are going to have to step up big,” Kree said. “And, on the flip side, Shane and Jacob Doyle are going to have to step up and be leaders on the defensive end. And I’ve already seen that with them telling guys how much we have to start talking.”

Albers enters his third year as the team’s main goaltender, but there is competition in the rink this season with the addition of sophomore Jaxston Malzahn, who Kree said could work his way into at least some ice time.

“Talan is the guy but he has to earn it like everyone else,” Kree said.

“He had some good games last year. He kept us in the Frederic game and the Pacelli game.

Those were two of the best games that he had where he was making saves and keeping us in it.

I think those were 2-1 and 3-2 games. He kept us in it right to the very end.”

Offensively, Medford’s top line, the red line as it’s called, consists of junior Tucker Phillips, senior Mason Harris and freshman Grady Crass.

Phillips had 11 goals and eight assists last year, tying Schaefer for the team lead in both stats.

Bull also had 11 goals.

Harris had three goals and an assist last winter.

“Tucker and Mason had a pretty good little chemistry going last year toward the end,” Kree said. “During captains practices and in the first couple weeks of practice they were together and you can just see the chemistry between the three of them. It’s been working well.”

To start the year, Kree was looking at a second line, the blue line, with senior Logan Koski at the center and junior Cole Pernsteiner and freshman Tanner Hubbard on the wings. Koski and Pernsteiner each scored twice last year. The white line has sophomore Fischer Thums at center and sophomore Cade Wellman and freshmen Ian Roiger and Jasper Stokes on the wings. But the blue and white lines were still being tinkered with.

Of Medford’s 50 goals scored last year, 27 were scored by seniors who have graduated. So there is some slack there that Medford will definitely have to pick up. Kree said the Raiders are focused this year on reducing the amount of time they are short-handed on the ice.

“One of the biggest things at the scrimmage was we had zero penalties,” Kree said. “That’s going to be a big focus, trying to limit the penalties. Penalties happen. Sometimes your stick gets in the wrong spot, a guy steps on it and you get a tripping call. It’s the avoidable ones where we’re making a bad hit or retaliating that we’re trying to limit.”

Tucker and Gavin Phillips are attending high school in Rib Lake while Malzahn is coming from Abbotsford to create the now three-school co-op.

“We have a couple of juniors and seniors that are stepping up into leadership roles, showing the guys the ropes on effort level in games and how things should be working in practices and stuff like that,” Kree said. “We saw it in the scrimmage. A couple of returning guys looking like allstars just flying around.”

Both of Medford’s wins a year ago came against the Chequamegon Co-op, who remains on this year’s schedule for a home-and-home series. The non-conference schedule again features home-and-homes with Shawano and the Frederic Blizzard co-op, teams the Raiders have had good games with in past seasons. Marshfield and Rice Lake will provide some tough challenges.

In the Great Northern Conference, competition is again expected to be tough at the top between teams like defending champion Lakeland, defending WIAA Division sectional champion Tomahawk and Mosinee.

But Kree is hopeful the Raiders can better compete this season with teams like Rhinelander, Northland Pines, Waupaca and Antigo. The Red Robins return two of the state’s top scorers in seniors Eli Kassler and Owen Dickman.

Medford also switches WIAA Division 2 sectionals. The Raiders will join Shawano and the other GNC teams, except for Waupaca, in an eight-team bracket.

“I tell the guys almost every day if you work hard, you’re going to get better,” Kree said. “When you get better, your skill level is going to improve and you’re going to start competing well. It all comes down to effort. It’s a big mental game. We talk about outside of hockey stuff. If you show up to school you’re going to show up to practice. When you show up to school and you do your work and doing what you need to do, you’re going to do the exact same thing in practice and you’re going to do the exact same thing in life.

“We’re just trying to get that mentality that we can grow the program and I tell these guys that they can be the start of something bigger,” he added. “You have to teach the freshmen coming up that this is how we do things and they can teach it down and down and down. Next thing you know everyone is in here wanting to compete and wanting to win and it’s a domino effect.”