MEDFORD HOCKEY - TWO THRILLERS ON THE ICE Comets win 2-1; Raiders get OT win Friday
MEDFORD HOCKEY
Energized by a thrilling win Friday, the Medford Raiders likely put together their best 51-minute performance of the season Monday at the Simek Recreation Center. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough to earn the team’s first Great Northern Conference hockey win of the season.
Waupaca goalie Gavin Hafferman stopped 16 shots including a penalty shot by Medford’s Tucker Phillips with 1:13 left and the Comets rode two second-period goals to a 2-1 win that was their first victory in GNC play. Phillips had Medford’s lone goal and senior goalie Talan Albers was on top of his game with 38 saves.
But, some good scoring chances went unrealized and the Raiders fell to 0-3 in league play and 2-11 overall, while the Comets improved to 1-2, 4-6.
“This is the first game all year where we played all three periods,” Medford head coach Klayton Kree said. “That’s one of the things I’ve been kinda preaching all season is playing a full three periods. Chequamegon (Friday) we played one and a half, maybe two. Rice Lake we played two. Almost every other game, it feels like we’ve played one and a half. Tonight, for them to play all three periods, it was a fun game to watch. They were invested the whole time.
“The energy was there. I think momentum from Friday helped. I think that gave them a little bit of confidence. Hopefully we keep it rolling.”
The goal from Phillips was big as it came just 12 seconds after Waupaca made it 2-0 and threatened to pull away midway through the second period. At the 9:43 mark, the Raiders gained control of the puck in neutral ice following the face-off. Tanner Hubbard and Grady Crass got the puck across to blue line to Phillips who fluttered an offspeed shot from Hafferman’s left side toward the opposite post. It bounced through to keep Medford within one.
The Raiders then created some consistent pressure through the rest of the period. Hubbard picked up a deflected puck and got an open shot in the slot that went just past the right post.
Logan Koski and Phillips got breakaway chances later in the period but couldn’t find the net. Cole Pernsteiner, as he was getting tripped, got off a shot that slid just wide and Crass, after creating a turnover, had a good look with 20 seconds left in the period that clanked off the corner of the net.
The Raiders’ best chance of the third period before the late penalty shot came at 7:10 when Ian Roiger set up Cade Wellman for an odd-man rush, but Hafferman had just enough time to take away the opening.
“When you look at the shots, we only had 16, but when you look at some of our possessions, we were setting the puck up,” Kree said. “If it skips over a guy’s stick or a guy misses the net those don’t count as shots. But I think our looks are there and I think our offensive creativity is starting to come through. The white line had a couple of good chances, Cole had the trip where he almost scored while falling down. Mason Harris has been working hard, Logan had another breakaway.”
The penalty shot came after Phillips corralled a loose puck in neutral ice, sprinted in on Hafferman and got tripped from behind by Blake Schoenecker. Phillips skated right up to the crease on his penalty attempt and then tried to sneak the puck past Hafferman’s right arm but was denied. After that, the Raiders didn’t get a good shot, actually spending most of the time defending their empty net.
“It was there. Tucker just shot it right into the guy’s paddle,” Kree said. “All he had to do was keep it flat on the ice or roof it and it was there. But it was a great game. Hopefully the guys will bring it (Tuesday) again because it should be another good game.”
Slow starts have been particularly troublesome in recent games, but that wasn’t the case Monday as the Raiders were energetic from the start. That energy was slowed by a five-minute major penalty at 6:21. Albers got into his zone for the night, stopping a half-dozen shots during the penalty kill and 13 in the period.
“He definitely kept us in the game,” Kree said of Albers. “To kill off that fiveminute major right away, that’s a tough thing to do. You give up one there, it doesn’t come off. It’s still four-on-five for five minutes.”
Waupaca got its first goal 27 seconds into the second period. Albers made the initial save on a shot from Schoenecker, but the puck kept trickling free and Schoenecker wound up punching it through on a scrum right at the net. Colin Everts and Nate Hines were credited with assists.
Cael Prey got a shot through traffic that found the gap on the short side for an unassisted goal at 9:31.
Medford killed off three Waupaca power plays but was unsuccessful on four chances, which has been a season-long issue.
“One of the things we have to work on is the power play,” Kree said. “We’re still struggling to get it into the zone.”
Medford lost its game with Spooner-Shell Lake Tuesday 4-1. The Raiders will next be at the Merrill Co-op tournament Friday and Saturday with Rhinelander and the DeForest Co-op. Medford plays the Merrill Co-op at 6 p.m. Friday. Consolation and championship games are at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday.
Medford heads to Rhinelander Jan. 16 for GNC play.
4-3 OT win
The Raiders got off to a really slow start Friday and fell behind the visiting Chequamegon Co-op 2-0 and still trailed by two goals with a little more than three minutes to go before stunning Team S.E.a.L. with three goals to earn a thrilling 4-3 overtime win.
Hubbard, a freshman, got the tying goal with 50 seconds left in regulation, punching in a rebound off a Jacob Doyle shot and then he got credit for the gamewinner 31 seconds into overtime, putting in the loose puck off a Phillips shot to set off a wild celebration in front of the home fans at the Simek Center.
Phillips scored Medford’s first goal 40 seconds into the third period and was credited with assists on both of Hubbard’s goals. Roiger, another freshman, had a huge goal at the 13:57 mark of the third to make it a 3-2 game.
“We had a really rough first period,” Kree said. “A low effort level dug us a hole again, but we came alive right away the second period. We had so many chances, and the offensive creativity started to show. I kept telling them that they are bound to start falling if they stay on the gas pedal.”
Team S.E.a.L. outshot Medford 93 in the first period and grabbed the lead late in the period.
Finn McCardle got the first goal 12:26 into the period with assists from Will Krause and Frank Kief. Just 1:17 later, Kellen Kranig made it 2-0 with help from a Mark Oskvarek assist.
Things started to turn for Medford in the second period with the Raiders holding an 11-9 edge in shots on goal. Chequamegon’s Nick Pesko stopped all of them to keep it a 2-0 game.
Phillips cut the deficit in half with a Harris assist, then the Raiders failed to score on a power-play opportunity. Chequamegon then got a power-play goal from Kief at the 9:13 mark to give the visitors their two-goal lead back.
But Roiger’s goal gave Medford hope again with 3:03 left. Getting the puck from fellow freshman William Harris, he was able to skate through the slot and fired a shot over Pesko’s shoulder and under the crossbar to make it 3-2.
“A couple of big goals by the freshmen got the rally heated,” Kree said. “Ian had a great snipe to get us within one and after Chequamegon’s timeout (with 1:50 left), we talked about working the puck low to open up the D or forwards in front, and told the D to shoot low and hit the net and have the forwards fight for the rebound.”
That worked to perfection as Hubbard, who played youth hockey with some of Chequamegon’s players last year, got the tying goal. Right away in overtime, Phillips stole the puck near the defensive blue line, carried it the other way and put a shot on Pesko that Kree said actually went in but wasn’t seen by the officials, but it didn’t matter as Hubbard’s hustle gave him the official tally.
Albers recorded 22 saves for the Raiders, who had two power plays. Pesko had 21 saves. Team S.E.a.L. was one for three on power plays.
“It was a phenomenal turnout, the crowd was electric and helped the energy. A really great comeback win,” Kree said.
Tanner Hubbard
