MEDFORD HOCKEY - Comets’ quick start sends Raiders to GNC’s 7th-place game with Hodags
MEDFORD HOCKEY
Hoping for another tight game like the teams’ first meeting back on Jan. 6, the Medford Raiders instead fell behind 4-0 before the fans were barely settled into their seats Tuesday and weren’t able to answer in a 7-1 loss at Waupaca in a consolation semifinal in the Great Northern Conference hockey tournament.
The Comets doubled their offensive output from their 2-1 win over Medford last month in the first 3:37 of Tuesday’s contest with two of those goals coming in the first 49 seconds. While the Raiders played well in the last 45 minutes of the game, according to head coach Klayton Kree, the rough start assured they will be playing in the seventh-place game of Saturday’s GNC tournament finals in Rhinelander.
The seventh-seeded Raiders (1-8 GNC, 3-20 overall) will face eighth-seeded Rhinelander (0-9 GNC, 2-20 overall) in the 10 a.m. opener at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. The teams split their regularseason matchups with Medford winning the Jan. 23 GNC game 5-1 on the Hodags’ home ice.
In Tuesday’s loss, comet Cael Prey got the first goal right off the opening face-off eight seconds in. Nate Hines had the assist. Those two switched roles on the second goal. Colin Lockwood made it 3-0 with a Cory Ellenich assist at 2:35 and, 52 seconds later, Colin Everts scored just seven seconds into the game’s first power play with assists from Hines and Prey.
Waupaca only outshot Medford 9-7 in the period.
Waupaca’s Thomas Thiel got the next two goals. The first was the only goal of the second period and came at 14:09, assisted by Everts and Prey. Thiel made it 6-0 8:49 into the third period, assisted by Lockwood and Gavin Grant. Prey got the Comets’ last goal at 13:23. He was unassisted. Mason Harris broke the shutout for Medford with 1:25 left in the game with help from a Tucker Phillips assist.
Medford outshot the Comets 15-11 in the second period, while the Comets had a 19-8 advantage in shots in the third to finish with a 39-30 edge overall. Talan Albers had 32 saves for Medford, while Gavin Hafferman had 29 saves for the sixth-seeded Comets, who will play fourth-seeded Antigo in Saturday’s fifthplace game at 1 p.m. The Red Robins beat Rhinelander 10-2 on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, top-seeded Tomahawk shut out fifth-seeded Northland Pines 6-0 and second-seeded Mosinee took care of third-seeded Lakeland 5-1.
Lakeland and Pines will meet for third place at 4 p.m. Saturday, while Mosinee and Tomahawk will square off for the tournament title at 7 p.m.
After Saturday’s GNC finale in Rhinelander, Medford will open WIAA Division 2 tournament play as the seventh seed in the eight-team sectional. The Raiders’ regional final takes them to second-seeded Mosinee (8-1, 14-8-1), who beat Medford 10-0 on Jan. 28 and 7-0 on Feb. 4 in GNC play this season. The regional contest is set for 7 p.m. on Feb. 20.
No Medford team has won a WIAA tournament game since the 2006-07 season.
The sectional is headed by defending champion and top-seeded Tomahawk. The 19-3 Hatchets are 9-0 in GNC play and are looking to secure the overall championship Saturday when they face Mosinee in the GNC title game. They have been the number-one ranked team in Division 2 for most of the season. The Hatchets beat second-ranked Somerset-St. Croix Falls 5-2 on Jan. 31. Their losses are to Division 1 teams New Richmond, Stevens Point and the West Bend West Coop.
Mosinee and Lakeland are recent sectional champions and are capable of knocking off the Hatchets. Outside of a 4-1 loss to Tomahawk on Jan. 9, Mosinee has done well against the conference/sectional foes in the bracket, beating Lakeland twice, rallying to beat Northland Pines 4-3 in overtime early in the season and routing Antigo 11-1 on Dec. 20.
Lakeland also lost 4-1 to Tomahawk and gave Mosinee a 4-3 game in their first GNC game Jan. 7. Lakeland beat Pines 3-1 in December and tied Antigo 5-5 on Jan. 9.
The only non-GNC team in the bracket, Shawano-Bonduel is 13-10 after playing an independent schedule in the regular season. The Hawks are 4-3 against GNC teams but did not face the top three.
Pines 9, Medford 0
Medford closed out the round-robin portion of its GNC schedule Thursday, falling 9-0 at home to Northland Pines in the make-up date of a Jan. 21 postponement.
The Eagles, who have played some solid hockey in the second half of the season and were coming off a big 9-3 win in the first round of the GNC tournament, jumped ahead 3-0 within the game’s first five minutes and weren’t ever threatened by the Raiders, who finished with 12 shots on goal.
“They move the puck well and they get up the ice quick,” Medford head coach Klayton Kree said. “Our defense just struggled to get back and our forwards struggled to get anything going in the offensive zone.”
Sam Shrock got the Eagles on the board just 1:28 in, assisted by Nicholas Hahn. Cooper Saari scored at 4:17 and Shrock followed just 29 seconds later for the quick three-goal lead.
Shrock scored twice more in the Eagles’ five-goal second period to finish with four goals on the night. Josh Graves scored twice and Hahn and Mila Chobanov each scored once for the Eagles.
Evrett Leslie stopped all 12 of Medford’s shots. Talan Albers had 35 saves while facing 44 shots from Pines, who was one for two on power plays. Medford had three chances.
