Machon earns GNC mention after high-scoring senior season
ALL-GNC HOCKEY
By leading the Medford Raiders in scoring this winter, senior Brayden Machon forced his way onto the honorable mention list for the 2021-22 All-Great Northern Conference hockey team.
Machon scored six goals and added three assists in 10 conference contests, including a threegoal outburst in an 8-6 loss at Tomahawk on Jan. 6. Overall, the senior forward scored 21 of Medford’s 54 goals during the year and added seven assists.
It’s the first All-GNC honor in hockey for Machon. He was one of three senior leaders on a team that went 6-16 overall and 1-9 in GNC contests under third-year head coach Galen Searles.
Machon recorded three hat tricks during the season, the first of which came in game two in non-conference play at the Chequamegon Co-op. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime that night as the Raiders won 5-4. Machon’s second hat trick was at Tomahawk and he got his third one and added an assist on Jan. 14 in a 6-0 win at Merrill-East.
In GNC play, he had a goal and an assist in a 10-3 loss to eventual conference and WIAA Division 2 sectional champion Lakeland on Jan. 11. He scored Medford’s only goal in a loss at Rhinelander in a GNC tournament game on Feb. 1 and scored in a GNC tournament contest at Tomahawk on Feb. 8. He had the assist on Connor Gowey’s game-winning goal in double-overtime of Medford’s lone league win, an exciting 5-4 victory at Northland Pines. That was Medford’s first win over Pines since Feb. 9, 2004.
In other non-conference highlights, Machon scored on his first career penalty shot, which came in a 4-1 win over the Burnett Blizzard Co-op on Dec. 23, he had two goals, including a short-handed score, in a loss to Rhinelander at Merrill on Jan. 15 and he had two goals and two assists in a 6-4 win over the Shawano Co-op on Jan. 29. He scored the team’s only goal, a short-handed tally, in a 3-1 loss to the Chequamegon Co-op on Feb. 3.
Lakeland’s round-robin record of 6-1 and its secondplace finish in the tournament gave the T-Birds the overall conference title with 15 points, one more than tournament champion Mosinee, who went 5-2 in the round-robin portion of the schedule. Those two teams also met Friday in a Division 2 sectional championship game playing at Northland Pines. Lakeland (17-5 overall) earned its second straight state berth with a 3-1 in that game and faces Rice Lake today, Thursday, in a state semifinal in Madison.
Rhinelander also went 5-2 in league play with one of those losses being an overtime defeat to Antigo. That gave the Hodags the two-seed in the GNC tournament, but they lost to Mosinee in the tournament semifinals as well as in a sectional semifinal and finished 17-10 for the year.
Antigo also had a solid and improved showing in the 2021-22 season. The Red Robins went 5-2 in the roundrobin, including the overtime win at Rhinelander, and advanced to a sectional semifinal at Lakeland after whipping Waupaca 8-2 in a regional final. Head coach Matt Borneman was named the GNC Coach of the Year after leading the Red Robins to a 17-8-1 season.
This year’s All-GNC first team features three seniors and three juniors. Lakeland’s Teag Wagner is the only repeat selection from last year. Antigo senior forward Garrett Husnick and Lakeland junior goalie Max Masayesva shared the Player of the Year award. Lakeland senior Cooper Fink, Mosinee junior Caden Schmirler and Rhinelander junior Leo Losch filled out this year’s team.
