Mosinee skates past Medford in hockey season opener
MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY
Caden Schmirler scored four goals and Tucker Stepan stopped all 14 shots he faced to lead the Mosinee Indians to an 8-0 shutout win over the Medford Raiders Tuesday in the hockey season opener for both clubs.
Mosinee maintained its mastery over Medford as the Indians extended the program’s winning streak in the rivalry to 30 games. The 2004-05 squad was the last Medford team to get a win over Mosinee.
“Mosinee was quicker,” Medford head coach Galen Searles said. “Their passes were crisper. There were lots of nerves for some of the freshmen.”
Mosinee outshot Medford 26-14 and scored three goals in each of the first two periods to put the game out of reach.
The first two came in a span of 46 seconds. Matej Krudenc scored Mosinee’s first goal of the season 5:27 in with an AJ Buenning assist. Wyatt Monyok got another one at 6:13 with an assist from Grant Kuklinski. Tanner Fjelsted made it 3-0 at the 11:42 mark of the opening period, assisted by Jaegar Dhein and Buenning.
Schmirler got his big night started with an unassisted goal 1:05 into the second period. It stayed 4-0 until the 13:03 mark of the period when Schmirler scored with assists from Slade Krause and Krudenc. Krause’s goal 28 seconds later, assisted by Kuklinski pushed the lead to six.
Medford’s Ben Brunner, in his first varsity start in goal, finished with 18 saves, including seven in each of the first two periods.
“Ben did all right in net for his first game,” Searles said. “He learned where he needs to improve.”
Schmirler closed the scoring with goals 50 seconds and 13:20 into the third period. Krause assisted on both goals and Kuklinski got his third assist of the night on the last goal.
Both teams had three penalties, all minor infractions, and neither team scored on a power play.
Searles said Kaden Kennedy was the most impressive of the team’s five freshmen making their varsity debuts.
“He played very aggressive and had good legs the whole game,” Searles said. “Hopefully we’ll have a little more fire in our stride on Friday.”
Friday’s matchup is a non-conference contest at Baldwin-Woodville, who dropped its opener 10-0 at Hudson Tuesday. The Blackhawks were 13-9-4 a year ago.
Medford’s Great Northern Conference game at Antigo, originally scheduled for Dec. 10, has been pushed back two days to Saturday, Dec. 12 and will now start at 5 p.m.
