MEDFORD HOCKEY - Raiders start GNC tourney with 7-0 loss to Mosinee; Pines here tonight

MEDFORD HOCKEY

A week after losing 10-0 at home to Mosinee, the Medford hockey team traveled to the Indians’ home ice Tuesday to start the Great Northern Conference tournament and, while the final result wasn’t a whole lot different in a 7-0 loss, how it looked was much different.

Medford head coach Klayton Kree said the Raiders played with much more energy and effort and it showed with 21 shots on goals, compared to just seven last week. That happened despite the Raiders being saddled with eight penalties in the last two periods, keeping them shorthanded for a good chunk of the time.

With Tuesday’s results, the seventhseeded Raiders will visit sixth-seeded Waupaca in the GNC consolation semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 11. The Comets lost to third-seeded Lakeland in their first-round game Tuesday 4-1.

“Our effort level was really good,” Kree said. “Jaxston (Malzahn) did a great job (in goal) for the first half of the game. I thought a lot of the younger guys played real well and had improvement in physicality and confidence. Obviously it’s a tough opponent, but a lot of good things to take away from this one.”

Second-seeded Mosinee advanced to a semifinal matchup with Lakeland.

Elliot Yirkovsky and Tyler Baars both recorded hat tricks for Mosinee. Yirkovsky got the scoring started just 15 seconds in. Baars scored a short-handed goal at 4:55 and he added his second goal at 9:24. Yirkovsky closed the first-period scoring with a goal at 11:33.

Yirkovsky got his third goal 14 seconds into the second period, Daniel DeCaluwe made it 6-0 at 11:51 and Baars capped his hat trick 31 seconds later.

Malzahn, making his third start of the season, collected 21 saves in 29 minutes. Talan Albers covered the last 22 minutes and was solid stopping 12 of 13 shots he face.

Andrew Lingl got the shutout win for Mosinee, stopping six shots in the first period, five in the second and 10 in the third.

Medford, now 1-6 in the GNC and 3-18 overall, is back on home ice tonight, Thursday, to make up a GNC postponement from Jan. 21 against the Northland Pines Eagles at 7 p.m. Pines, the fifth seed in the tournament, knocked off fourth-seeded Antigo 9-3 Tuesday. Pines advances to a semifinal next week at top-seeded Tomahawk, who eased to a 9-0 win over eighth-seeded Rhinelander.

Blizzard 8, Raiders 0

Eight different players scored goals Friday as the host Burnett County Blizzard co-op outscored Medford 8-0 in nonconference play. The Blizzard beat Medford for the second time this season, adding to their 5-2 win from Dec. 20.

Kree said the Raiders put together a better effort than the previous night, but they weren’t able to keep the Blizzard from possessing the puck and paying that pressure off with scores, including three in each of the last two periods.

Malzahn got his second start of the season and collected 39 saves.

“He played well and made saves to keep us in it for a bit,” Kree said.

The Blizzard got quick back-to-back goals from Landon Smestad and Landyn Randt at the 5:31 and 7:09 marks of the first period. Medford had just one shot on goal in the period compared to the Blizzard’s 10. Shots went to 20-7 in favor of the Blizzard in the second period with goals scored by Talon Imme at 3:54, Clayton Shutt at 13:53 and Levi Anderson with one second left at 16:59.

Gunner Imme put the running clock into effect 10:09 into the third period, then Ryder Anderson’s goal at 15:02 was followed by the last one fro Kash Morrone 29 seconds later.

Lewis Anderson got the 18-save win in goal for the Blizzard, who converted one of three power plays. Medford had three power plays.

Hawks 9, Raiders 2

Medford’s tendency to start slow at times this season hit a new low Thursday when visiting Shawano-Bonduel hit the Raiders with five goals in the first 12:06 and cruised from there to a 9-2 win.

The Raiders made a mini-comeback with two Gavin Phillips goals in the second period, but a short-handed goal by Gavin Hundt 8:10 into the third period put a stop to Medford’s momentum and the Hawks went on another late three-goal flurry.

“I don’t know what happened in that first period,” Kree said. “The second period was a lot better. We had it going in the third, then they got one or two goals and we went back to struggling.”

Hundt finished with three goals and two assists for the visitors, who improved to 11-8 at the time and complete a regularseason sweep of the teams’ two-game series. Blake Knope scored the game’s last two goals 54 seconds apart to complete his hat trick.

Shawano-Bonduel outshot Medford 27-4 in the first period and finished with a 44-20 advantage. Albers had 35 saves in goal for Medford. The Hawks were two of six on power plays along with getting Hundt’s third-period shorty.

Down 5-0, the Raiders started getting more offensive pressure early in the second period, led by Tucker Phillips, who had three good shots glove saved by Tyson Lyons. Then, just after he got out of the penalty box at the 4:40 mark, Gavin Phillips took the puck from Jacob Doyle and snuck a shot just under the crossbar to get Medford on the board.

With Medford on a power play, Tucker Phillips centered a pass to Gavin Phillips, whose backhand tip found the back of the net at 9:15. The Raiders had five power plays in the game, including two with the game still somewhat within reach at 5-2, but were unable to convert.