Hodags hard to stop; Raiders get shutout win over BlueJacks

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

Leo Losch scored three goals, Joey Belanger added two and Cal Laggis had a goal and four assists to lead the Rhinelander Hodags to 9-0 win over Medford Tuesday, their second win over the Raiders in four days.

This one counted in the Great Northern Conference standings and kept the Hodags in contention for the league championship as they improved to 4-1 in conference play and 11-4 overall.

The Raiders (0-6, 4-11) have one more shot at getting a GNC win before the league tournament begins on Feb. 1. That comes Tuesday when they visit Northland Pines, who also could be winless in league play, pending its rescheduled matchup with Mosinee on Friday.

Medford head coach Galen Searles said the Raiders, for the most part, played the Hodags better on Tuesday than they did in a 14-3 loss in Merrill Saturday. The Raiders trailed this one 5-0 early in the third period when a fiveminute major for checking from behind led to a three-goal outburst, making that the third time this season that has happened to Medford.

“They’re tenacious,” Searles said of the Hodags. “We talked about it coming down to corner battles and battles along the boards. Whoever wants the puck more is the one that’s going to come out with it. Saturday they owned us. We did a little better tonight.”

Rhinelander finished with five powerplay goals. Belanger scored the first one 7:41 into the game, getting an open look from the left of Medford goalie Ben Brunner and drilling the puck off his pad and into the net. Laggis and Layne Roeser had assists. Losch got his first goal off a perfect centering pass from Sam Schneider at 10:58 with Laggis getting the second assists. Belanger got an unassisted short-handed goal at 12:03 for a 3-0 lead.

Medford actually outshot Rhinelander 11-9 in the second period, but goals by Losch 45 seconds in and by Finn Tulowitzky 7:05 widened the lead.

“In the second period tonight, for the most part, we played with them,” Searles said. “We had our best scoring opportunities in the second period. Jake (Noland) had a two golden opportunities and Brayden (Machon) had a couple of real good chances. We capitalized on a few Saturday, but we just didn’t get them in in this game.”

The major penalty with 1:39 left in the second period was costly when it carried over into the third as Losch scored at 1:03, Roeser got one at 3:05 and, 18 seconds, Laggis scored another to make it 8-0. Carter Detienne added one more power-play goal with 1:01 left in the game.

Brunner had 33 saves for Medford, while the Raiders put 26 shots on Rhinelander’s Garrett Kalhanek.

After Tuesday’s game at Northland Pines, the Raiders will be back at the Simek Center on Jan. 27 to face the Chequamegon Co-op at 7 p.m.

1-1 at Merrill

Medford and Rhinelander met Saturday in the championship game of the East-Merrill United two-day tournament and, as the 14-3 final score suggests, the Raiders had no answers for Rhinelander’s offense, which scored five goals in the first period and seven more in the second to build a 12-3 lead.

Laggis and Belanger had hat tricks and Losch and Tulowitzky had three assists each to lead the Hodags’ barrage.

Rhinelander took a 2-0 lead on Roeser’s goal 1:03 in and a goal by Laggis on a five-on-three power play at 5:50. On the same power play, Machon got a breakaway score to pull Medford within 2-1 at the 6:13 mark, but Gavin Denis converted the power play for Rhinelander with a goal 33 seconds later and Zach Edyvean and Belanger scored 42 seconds apart at 12:26 and 13:08 before Machon scored again at 14:06 off a Logan Koski assist to make it 5-2.

The Hodags then scored five times in the second period before Cameron Bull got an unassisted goal on Medford’s only power play of the game.

Talan Albers had a busy day in net, stopping 42 of 56 shots faced. Caleb Shefveland stopped six shots and Kalhanek had seven saves as the two goalies split time for Rhinelander.

The Raiders had much better luck in Friday’s opener, downing the host East-Merrill Bluejacks 6-0. Albers, a freshman, got his first win between the pipes in shutout fashion with 21 saves. Machon had a hat trick, Connor Gowey scored twice and Colbe Bull had two assists in the win.

“We controlled the game,” Searles said. “In the first period, it seemed like our wheels were spinning and we weren’t going anywhere. But finally we started connecting on some passes and broke the ice. That was a fun game.”

The Bluejacks outshot Medford 10-7 in a scoreless first period, but it only took Machon 32 seconds to find the net in the second period. Bull had the assist on that goal. He and Machon assisted on a Miles Searles goal at 14:30.

Gowey scored on two third-period power plays. His goal at 7:27 was assisted by Isaac Schaefer, while Noland and Cameron Bull helped him score again at 9:22. Searles assisted on Machon’s goal at 11:07 and Machon got his last one unassisted with three seconds left to cap his hat trick.

Medford’s Miles Searles picks up a loose puck and carries it out of the defensive zone during the first period of Tuesday’s 9-0 loss to Rhinelander.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS