MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY - Pacelli slips by Raiders in home opener

MEDFORD BOYS HOCKEY

The Medford Raiders got the first goal and last goal Tuesday, but that wasn’t quite enough to offset the three goals the Stevens Point Pacelli Co-op got in between in a 3-2 final at the Simek Recreation Center.

Pacelli scored twice in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and then held on when Medford pulled within one on an Isaac Schaefer blast from just inside the blue line with 1:51 left. Taking a pass from the opposite deep corner from Cade Wellman, Schaefer hit the upper right corner of the net, getting the puck just above the glove of Pacelli goalie Isaac Andrich.

After calling a timeout, Medford hoped to pull goalie Talan Albers in favor of an extra skater but was unable to do it until the last 45 seconds. Pacelli missed one shot at the open net. Then, in the final seconds, Medford’s Tucker Phillips won a face-off in the Pacelli zone, getting the puck to defenseman Cameron Bull, who put a shot on goal that was denied. A second shot by Bull was deflected. The Raiders got the puck toward the crease one last time, but no one was able to redirect it just before the horn sounded.

Medford fell to 0-2 with the loss, while Pacelli moved to 1-1.

“Our first period we jumped out pretty good,” Medford head coach Klayton Kree said. “I think the home game and the excitement kicked in. But coming into the second period with a 1-0 lead, we tried building off it coming out fast, setting the tone and unfortunately, the second period was probably our worst period and it cost us.”

The Raiders drew first blood 5:46 in. The rebound from a blue-line shot by Bull went right to Kaden Kennedy just to the right of the net and Andrich. He centered the puck toward Phillips and Jacob Doyle, who were both camped at the crease. Phillips got the goal with Kennedy and Doyle being credited with assists.

Pacelli, however, actually outshot Medford 7-4 in the period, which ended with Medford killing off a power play. The visitors then slowly took control of the contest in the next 17 minutes, outshooting Medford 10-3 and scoring just 47 seconds in on an unassisted goal by Axel Rintala, who gained control of the puck along the boards and was able to skate in for a clean shot in front of the net.

Pacelli continued to put pressure on Medford’s defense in the third period and paid it off with the goahead scores. On the first, Medford was unable to clear the puck and Pacelli defenseman Michael Benjamin was able to sneak a wrist shot from just inside the blue line through traffic and into the net at 4:33. Sawyer Olds had the assist. At 9:30, just 10 seconds after Pacelli went on a power play, Balin Wojtalewicz poked in a rebound off an initial shot by Brady Foster.

“We just had some bad plays on breakouts and were mishandling the puck,” Kree said. “A lot of times as soon as it’s on our stick, we’re flinging it away and we’re not sending it to anybody on our team. It’s either icing or going to their guys. A lot of times if the guys would just pick their head up and look around they would realize they have room to skate with it. Unforced turnovers are what’s going to cost us and in the end that’s what happened.”

Despite the loss, Kree said Albers’ play in net was a highlight. He had 31 saves, including 15 in the third period. Pacelli finished with a 34-13 advantage in shots on goal.

“Talan had a really good game,” Kree said. “I think there were three or four breakaways and he stoned every one of them. He stood on his head for us and made some great saves for us to keep us in the game.”

Medford did not score on two power plays and Pacelli was one for three. Unfortunately, a late hit by Pacelli just after time expired, led to a brief altercation that resulted in one game misconduct for each side.

Medford is at Antigo tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. to begin Great Northern Conference play and then is home for three straight games. The Viroqua Co-op is in town Saturday for a 4 p.m. face-off, the Chequamegon Co-op is here Tuesday at 7 p.m. and then a solid Tomahawk squad visits for a GNC contest on Dec. 7.

“We played hard the last four minutes and got that goal to pull it within one,” Kree said. “I said after the game if we play like we did in the last four minutes the whole game, we can beat and stay with most teams we’re going to play against. It’s just about making sure that we have solid play, everybody’s working hard and contributing and we’re just doing the fundamentals of hockey, passing, skating and stick handling and that’s something we’ll need to work on in practice.”

Tigers 6, Raiders 1

Tyler Reissmann earned a hat trick to lead the host Marshfield Tigers to a 6-1 win over Medford on Nov. 21 in the season-opening game for both squads.

Marshfield had a slim 30-24 advantage in total shots, but the Tigers were better able to execute on their op- portunities by scoring twice in each period.

Medford got its goal with just 24 seconds left in the first period. Taking advantage of an interference penalty on the Tigers, Medford’s Tucker Phillips scored the power play goal off an assist from Kennedy.

“We played well,” Kree said. “It was the first game and it took us a little while to adjust. But we played really well in the first period. After watching film we realized there were some mental mistakes, easy plays that could’ve been made that weren’t made or just some bad positioning. But coming out of that first period, we were down 2-1 and got a goal in that last minute. That was big coming into the second period.”

The Phillips goal cut Marshfield’s lead at the time in half. Reissmann scored an unassisted goal 4:36 into the game and Tanner Shortt made it 2-0 at 7:38 with an assist from Judd Higgins. The Tigers outshot Medford 14-7 in the period.

Medford settled in after that and the shots evened out the rest of the way. Medford outshot Marshfield 9-8 in the second period but Reissmann scored 27 seconds in and at 9:33 with Blake Meissner getting assists on both goals. Joey Cashmer assisted on the goal that made it 4-1.

Meissner scored 2:14 into the third period, assisted by Cashmer. Shortt got Marshfield’s last goal 11:22 into the period with an assist from Owen Hoerneman.

Albers had 24 saves for Medford, including 12 in the first period and six in each of the next two periods. Reed Gieseking got the win in net for Marshfield while collecting 23 saves.

“That goalie was standing on his head in that game,” Kree said. “We had a lot of good opportunities but we couldn’t get anything to fall in. They took advantage of their opportunities and we didn’t. The score didn’t show what that game was. We actually played a good game.”

Both teams had four penalties resulting in eight penalty minutes. The Raiders got the only power play goal of the night.