Raiders give T-Birds two-period push before faltering
MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY
The Medford Raiders hung with Lakeland for two periods Tuesday, but the Thunderbirds –– a team right in the thick of the Great Northern Conference hockey championship chase –– took advantage of four thirdperiod power plays and pulled away for a 6-2 win in Minocqua.
Gray Wagner recorded a hat trick for the T-Birds and Max Masayesva had 16 saves in the home team’s win. Medford’s sophomore goalie Talan Albers had a strong night, according to head coach Galen Searles, collecting 47 saves, 27 of which came in the first two periods.
After 34 minutes, the Raiders were right there with the T-Birds, trailing 2-1. But they ran out of gas in the third. Wagner scored 3:19 in off an Al Meyer assist to start the T-Birds’ late scoring spree. A tripping penalty at 5:40 led to Kort Meyer’s power-play goal at 6:14, which was assisted by Aaron Wanta and Aden Thiessen and put Lakeland up 4-1.
Another tripping call gave the T-Birds a power play that was capped by Meyer’s goal 10:36, assisted by Brent Olson and Wanta. Wagner clinched his hat trick and made it 6-1 with yet another power-play goal that followed a cross-checking penalty. Wagner was assisted by Jack Rubo on the goal, which came at 10:49.
Medford got the first and last goals of the game. Senior forward Miles Searles put in an unassisted shot right off the opening face-off 12 seconds in and that 1-0 lead stood for quite some time.
Alberts had 18 saves to keep Medford in the lead through the end of the period. It stayed 1-0 until the 10:29 mark of the second when Matt Haggart finally broke the seal with assists from Rubo and Brayden Warchol. Wagner got the tiebreaker with just 1:24 left in the period with a Rubo assist.
While Lakeland enjoyed plenty of power-play time, especially in the third period, the T-Birds’ two penalties both came in coincidental situations, leaving Medford without a power play for the entire game.
Lakeland now sits at 5-1 in the conference and 13-3 overall. The T-Birds are a half-game behind 6-1 Mosinee with a key game yet to play tonight, Thursday, at Rhinelander. The Hodags are 4-1 in league play and are still scheduled to play a make-up game with Northland Pines Monday to finish up the round-robin portion of the GNC schedule. Tomahawk finished 5-2 in league play after beating Waupaca 7-4 on Tuesday.
Medford fell to 1-6 in the GNC and 5-12 overall with Tuesday’s loss. The Raiders finished the round-robin tied for seventh place with Waupaca, who the Raiders beat 7-5 back on Dec. 19. That win gives Medford the head-to-head tiebreaker and the seventh seed in the GNC’s end-of-season tournament, which starts Tuesday. Medford will play at the yet-to-be-determined second seed.
The Raiders will host Spooner Friday at 7 p.m. in non-conference play at the Simek Recreation Center. The Jan. 19 home game with the Shawano Co-op was postponed by weather and is set for Monday, Feb. 6.
