Flat second period dooms Raiders at home; team earns weekend split

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY

What started as a competitive contest got away quickly from the Medford Raiders in the second period Monday, resulting in a 7-0 loss the Black River Falls Coop at the Simek Recreation Center.

Coming off a fairly successful weekend trip to Beaver Dam, the Raiders looked to carry that momentum toward an upset of a team that beat them 5-1 back on Dec. 2. While they ended the first period down 1-0, both teams had 14 shots despite the fact Medford had to burn off two penalties. The Raiders had two good chances in particular, but Tiger goalie Sydney Magnuson saved a short-handed push by Victoria Koniecnzy just over seven minutes in and she stopped a good shot by Grace Schmidtfranz about two minutes later and the Raiders couldn’t quite get a stick on the potential rebound.

“We didn’t put any in, but we were right there,” Medford head coach Scott Brandner said.

The Tigers, meanwhile, did get an unassisted goal from Shelby King at 13:16.

They came out swinging in the second period and Raiders didn’t have an answer.

Marah Noth skated in for an unassisted goal 2:43 in. Medford goalie Ilsa Brunner survived a flurry of shots two minutes later and made a point-blank save on Hannah Lane at the six-minute mark. But right off the ensuing face-off won by Tiger Zowie Hunter, Courtney Magnuson sent in a shot that deflected off Brunner’s stick and in to make it 3-0.

Lane got her revenge at 6:42, punching in a rebound with Courtney Magnuson and Alizah Hayes getting the assists, to open up a 4-0 lead.

Brandner said Medford’s play did improve in the third period, but it wasn’t nearly enough to get back in it. Black River Falls extended the lead with three goals from Courtney Magnuson at 6:15, 9:59 and 15:08. The first one was on a power play and assisted by Hayes and Lane. Lane had the assist on the second goal of the period.

Brunner had 48 saves for the Raiders, who fell to 3-10 overall. Sydney Magnuson had 22 saves in the first two periods for Black River Falls (9-9). Isabel Blackdeer finished up with seven saves in the third.

Medford (4-10) had one power play and didn’t convert in the second period. The Tigers were one for three.

The Raiders will wrap up their regular season on Friday with a tough one as they host the state’s fourth-ranked team, the Hayward Co-op, at 6 p.m. Seeding for the sectional tournament is set to take place over the weekend with the post-season tournament starting Feb. 16-17.

1-1 at Beaver Dam

After their Jan. 24 win over Northland Pines, the Raiders took high hopes into their annual trip to the Beaver Dam tournament over the weekend and came back half-satisfied.

Medford continued its recent dominance over the Beaver Dam Co-op on Friday night, but it wasn’t easy as two early goals were just enough to provide a 2-1 win.

“Beaver Dam is much improved,” Brandner said. “Looking at their scores, I knew it was going to be different this year. They have a really good goalie (Emily Smedema). But we went out and pounded two in right away, got up 2-0. We relaxed a little bit and let them sneak one in. In the last two minutes they pulled the goalie. We had been popping out the puck all game long but then it came down to that and we couldn’t get one to get a shot at the empty net.”

Saturday featured a matchup with the Baraboo-based Badger Lightning Co-op. The Raiders again started quickly, getting a goal from Sophia Brunner with an assist from Zayleah Leonhardt. But the Lightning got a disputed goal 11 seconds later, which Brandner felt should’ve been waved off due to high sticking. The Lightning got two goals from Reese Olson in the period, Olson finished her hat trick in the second period and Mallory Ruland got one more in the third to close out the Lightning’s 4-1 win.

Ilsa Brunner had 43 saves, while the Lightning’s Alyssa Gada had 17 saves. It was a tough game penalty-wise for Medford as the Lightning had seven power plays with one resulting in a goal. Medford was scoreless in two chances.

The Lightning also beat the Northern Edge 5-3 and Beaver Dam 2-0 during the weekend and the Northern Edge beat Beaver Dam 1-0.