Hockey teams draw tough opening-round assignments in upcoming WIAA tournaments

Medford’s boys and girls hockey teams both drew first-time playoff opponents during the sectional seeding process, which took place statewide on Sunday.

The Medford Raiders are taking part in the WIAA’s first-ever divisional state tournament. In Division 2, the Raiders (12-8-1) drew the sixth seed in the eightteam Sectional #1 and will face perennial power Superior (7-15-1) on Feb. 20. The Spartans don’t appear to have their strongest team and this is one of Medford’s best teams in some time.

Still, the Raiders will go into Wessman Arena on the UW-Superior campus as a solid underdog against the Spartans, who tradionally play one of the state’s toughest schedules.

The Amery Co-op (18-5) drew the oneseed after winning the Middle Border Conference with an 8-0 record. The Warriors swept New Richmond this season and have a 7-4 win over #2 Hayward to their credit.

Hayward (17-5-1) beat Superior 3-0 last week, beat New Richmond 7-2 and 6-0 this season and is 1-0-1 against fourth-seeded Rice Lake. Rice Lake (8-12-1) got key Big Rivers Conference wins last week over River Falls (5-2) and Eau Claire North (21) to wrap up the fourth seed.

New Richmond (9-14) has a 5-3 win over River Falls and a 7-6 overtime loss to Superior to its credit, but the Tigers have struggled of late, losing six of eight.

On the girls’ side, Medford-Rib Lake knew it was likely to get the seventh seed in what could be the toughest of the state’s four sectionals.

The first test is a tough one as the Raiders (6-14) visit the defending state champion Fox Cities Co-op Feb. 21 at Tri-County Ice Arena in Neenah. The Stars (16-6) were moved back to this sectional, along with the Green Bay Area Ice Bears (14-8-1), to help fill the void left when the Rhinelander and Lakeland coops joined forces this year.

Fox Cities, Bay Area and the Marshfi eld-based Wisconsin Valley Union (910-3) all play in the Eastern Shores Conference, which the Ice Bears won with an 8-1 record and two ESC tourney wins over the Union and the Stars.

The D.C. Everest-based Central Wisconsin Storm has won this sectional 12 years in a row and got the top seed with a 17-3-2 record. They own two wins over the Rhinelander-based Northern Edge, one over the Union and one over the Ice Bears and have been the state’s topranked team for much of the year.

The fact that Northland Pines (14-5-2) is a four-seed and the Northern Edge (147), winners of eight straight before losing 3-0 to the Ice Bears Monday, is seeded sixth, is a testament to the strength of this sectional.