Bulldogs get a PeeWee 4A state title; Bantams finish in third

Goalie Izzy Keeling earned three shutouts and a Medford Bulldogs team just eight skaters deep also got the job done offensively too while sweeping through the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association Pee Wee 12U Division 4A state tournament.

Played Saturday and Sunday at the Manitowoc County Expo arena, Medford, who entered the eight-team tournament as the one-seed, won the state title with three dominant wins.

The Pee Wee team is coached by Ryan Peterson, Nick Klemm and Stan Strama.

The Bulldogs started the tournament Saturday morning with an 8-0 win over the eighth-seeded Burnett County Blizzard. They outshot the Blizzard 48-6 and broke the game wide open with four third-period goals.

Wyatt Crass and William Dixon scored goals in the first period with Crass assisting on Dixon’s goal. Crass got his goal with Medford short-handed. Charley Peterson got an unassisted power play goal and Joren Stokes added an unassisted goal to make it 4-0 in the second period.

Peterson and Breckyn Klemm each scored twice in the third period. Stokes, Crass and Jace Vach each had an assist in the flurry.

In the semifinals Saturday evening, Medford broke a scoreless tie with a fourgoal outburst in the second period and went on to beat fifth-seeded Monroe 6-0. Keeling had 13 saves, including six in the first period, and the Bulldogs put 36 shots on goal, 30 of which came in the first two periods.

Peterson got a natural hat trick, scoring Medford’s first three goals of the second period. Crass assisted on the second and third goals. Crass scored the fourth goal of the period. His goal and Peterson’s third were short-handed. Peterson’s second goal came on a power play.

In the third period, Crass scored off a Stokes assist and Peterson got his fourth goal, assisted by Crass.

That sent Medford to Sunday’s championship game against third-seeded Barron-Chetek. The Bulldogs got early goals from Crass and Peterson and skated from there to a 5-0 win. Keeling had nine saves. Peterson finished with two goals and an assist. Crass had a goal and three assists. Luke Sherman put one in early in the second period to make it 3-0. Stokes and Crass had the assists. Klemm had an assist and finished the scoring with an unassisted power play goal with 3:36 left.

Peterson had nine goals in the tournament, while Crass had eight assists.

Monroe beat seventh-seeded Viroqua 7-2 in the third-place game, secondseeded Manitowoc beat fourth-seeded West Salem 10-3 in the fifth-place game and Burnett County beat sixth-seeded Marinette-Menominee 3-2 in the seventhplace game

Bantams 3rd

The Medford Bulldogs 14U Bantam team placed third in its Division 4A tournament held Feb. 22-23 at the Barron Area Ice Arena. The team went 2-1 in its eight-team bracket.

Medford, coached by Stan Strama, Ryan Lemke and Jason Rappe, entered the tournament as the two-seed and opened with a 6-1 win over seven-seed Oshkosh. This was a close 2-0 game going into the third period. Luke Hartl scored in the first period and Stanley Thums scored in the second. Three goals to start the third broke it open. Hartl got the first one, Crandel Harder got the next one and Bailey Olwell made it 5-0. After Oshkosh scored with 5:32 left, Dawson Rappe found the back of the net with 4:21 to play.

A first-period goal by Thums put Medford ahead in the semifinals, but three-seed Stoughton shut the Bulldogs out from there and got a goal in each of the last two periods to take a 2-1 win. Stoughton went on to lose 4-0 to topseeded Spooner in the title game.

Medford went to the third-place game on Sunday afternoon, where it defeated host Barron-Chetek, the five-seed, 5-2. Rappe got an early goal and Thums scored with two seconds left in the second period for a 2-0 lead. After Barron-Chetek got a goal midway through the third, the Bulldogs responded with two Thums goals 31 seconds apart to take a 4-1 lead with 4:24 left. Thums got his fourth goal of the game and third of the period with 1:00 left.

Sixth-seeded River City beat fourthseeded Viroqua 3-1 in the fifth-place game and eighth-seeded Burnett County outscored Oshkosk 9-5 in the seventhplace game.