Pines strikes fast; Medford wins twice in Beaver Dam

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY

the Raiders finally got some breathing room late in the second period. Freshman Emily Kiselicka notched her first varsity goal at 13:33, a short-hander that came off a Skylier Krueger assist. Just 43 seconds later, at 14:16, Kyla Kennedy knocked home an unassisted goal to put Medford up 4-1.

The Raiders broke it wide open in the third. Victoria Konieczny got an unassisted goal at 4:30, and that was followed by Kennedy’s second goal of the game at 5:41. Konieczny got her second one at 10:06 and then, just after a hooking call against the Raiders, freshman Carly Koski got her first varsity goal at 10:54, a short-hander that was assisted by Delaney Hraby.

Freshman Grace Schmidtfranz got her first varsity goal at 13:35 that included an assist by Krueger and the first one of the season for another freshman, Makenna Wellman. That made it 9-1 before Beaver Dam’s Caralin Sanders scored the game’s last goal with 45 seconds left.

Brandner had 13 saves as Medford outshot the Golden Beavers 43-15.

The teams met again at noon on Saturday with the Raiders winning 8-2. Despite playing in the second of backto- back games, the Raiders outshot the Beavers 30-11 and built a commanding 6-1 lead through two periods to get their third win of the season over Beaver Dam.

Kennedy recorded a hat trick, scoring a goal in each period. Her first one, off a Seidl assist, got Medford on the board 7:48 into the game and was matched by Beaver Dam’s Maddie Modine 19 seconds later. But the 1-1 tie only lasted 45 seconds as Brunner put Medford back on top at 8:52 with another Seidl assist. Skylier Krueger’s unassisted goal at the 12:11 mark of the period put the Raiders ahead 3-1. Medford set a strong opening tone by outshooting Beaver Dam 14-6 in the period.

Kennedy’s goal off a Konieczny assist put the Raiders up 4-1 just 44 seconds into the second period and Hraby got one just 16 seconds later off a Kennedy assist. Krueger’s second unassisted goal of the game at the 14:53 mark made it 6-1.

After a Stanul goal opened the third period for Beaver Dam, Brunner got her second goal 1:20 later at 4:22 with assists from Koski and Krueger. Kennedy got her hat trick at 5:51 with assists from Alisyn Gruney and Seidl.

Brandner only had to make nine saves in the win, while the Beavers’ Karlee Albert had 22 saves. Medford had the game’s only power play in the third period and did not score on it.

The timing of Monday’s make-up date with Northland Pines wasn’t ideal for Medford’s girls hockey team coming off a four-game weekend and the host Eagles took full advantage of it, skating to a 9-1 win over the weary Raiders.

Sophia Brunner scored Medford’s goal, her third in three games, 10:26 into the second period off an assist by Eryka Seidl. By that time the Raiders were down 6-0.

It stayed 6-1 until the third period when the Eagles put it away with a shorthanded goal from Mallory Schmidt at 1:56, a goal from Hannah Castillo at 7:08 and a goal from Hailey Krznarich at 13:30.

Pines outshot Medford 37-7 while improving to 8-7 for the season. The Eagles earned their second win of the season over the Raiders. Medford fell to 3-13 and has three games left on its regularseason schedule after a much-deserved week-long break.

Medford is off until Monday when it goes to Rhinelander to face the Northern Edge Co-op in a 7 p.m. face-off.

The Eagles wasted no time in pouncing on the Raiders Monday, scoring three goals in the first 2:12 of the game. Madison Stebbeds and Grace Wittkopf scored unassisted goals at 36 seconds and 1:48. Donna Lotzer got the third one off a Stebbeds assist.

From there, the Raiders settled down and kept the Eagles off the board until Wittkopf got her second goal 1:03 into the second period. Stebbeds made Medford pay for its only penalty of the night, getting a power play goal off assists from Halle Kerner and Wittkopf at 3:38. Wittkopf capped her hat trick by scoring off a Castillo assist at 8:58. Brunner then got Medford on the board 88 seconds later.

Alyssa Brandner collected 28 saves in net for Medford. Ashlynn Boxrucker and Jenna Uhrine combined to stop six shots for the Eagles.

After Monday’s game in Rhinelander, Medford returns to the Simek Center one last time on Feb. 10 to host Chippewa Falls-Menomonie in a 6 p.m. face-off. The Raiders have designated that game as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Night. Proceeds from 50/50 raffles, raffle baskets and the chuck-a-duck contest will go toward local mental health services.

The regular season ends Feb. 11 with a rescheduled game at the Baraboo Co-op. The WIAA sectional seeding meeting is set for this Sunday.

Two losses

Two wins The Raiders started and finished the program’s first-ever three-game day on Saturday with losses to the Baraboobased Badger Lightning Co-op.

The first game was a well-played 4-2 final on Saturday morning that was tied 2-2 until the Lightning got two in the latter stages of the third period to win it. Signe Begalske got what turned out to be the game-winner at 8:51 with assists from Reese Olson and Carson Blosenski. It was Begalske’s second score of the game. Madchen Ewig got an insurance goal with 2:02 left to put it away.

The Lightning controlled the puck in the third period, outshooting the Raiders 13-2.

Konieczny, however, got the first goal of the period to tie it, scoring at 3:20 off a Krueger assist. Kennedy gave Medford During an exhausting, two-day weekend tournament hosted by the Beaver Dam Co-op, the Raiders earned a pair of victories over the host team.

First, Medford took care of the Golden Beavers 9-2 in the opening game Friday night.

The Raiders got off to a fast start and ended the game with a flurry of five goals in the third period, earning a few firsts along the way.

Seidl got the first two goals, scoring at the 8:28 and 10:40 marks of the first period with Kyla Kennedy getting an assist on the second one, which occurred just as Beaver Dam killed off its only penalty of the game. Just 11 seconds after that goal, however, the Golden Beavers cut the lead in half with an Addy Damon goal, assisted by Ali Stanul.

It stayed 2-1 for nearly 20 minutes, but a shot of momentum by scoring with 30 seconds left in the second period to cut the Lightning’s 2-0 lead in half.

Both teams got five shots on goal in a scoreless first period that ended with four-on-four hockey due to penalties 18 seconds apart. Begalske broke the tie 4:45 into the second period and Kayla Capener made it 2-0 at 13:01.

The Lightning outshot the Raiders 26-12. Brandner had 22 saves, while the Lightning’s Alyssa Gada had 10.

The teams met again in the last game of the day on Saturday and the Lightning won the battle of attrition 6-1. Hraby got Medford’s goal 5:34 into the second period with assists from Seidl and Kennedy. That cut the Lightning’s lead at the time to 3-1. But Olson scored at 8:23 and 13:20 to open up a 5-1 lead by the end of the period. The Lightning outshot Medford 9-1 in the third and got a Begalske goal to cap the scoring.

Shots were fairly even until the third period and ended 22-16 in the Lightning’s favor. Brandner had 16 saves and Gada had 15. The Lightning did not score on the game’s only power play, which came late in the third period.

The Baraboo Co-op beat the Beaver Dam Co-op 11-0 on Friday and 7-0 on Saturday to go 4-0 in the two days of hockey.