MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY - Tough start on the ice for girls hockey team at Hayward, Marshfield

MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY

Medford’s girls hockey team created some early offense with nine first-period shots on goal, but none of them found the back of the net which prevented the Raiders from sticking with the host Hayward Co-op Tuesday in an 8-0 loss.

The Hurricanes’ All-State forward from a year ago, Reese Sheehan, showed that ability against the Raiders Tuesday, scoring five goals and adding three assists as Hayward improved to 3-2 in their busy start to the season.

Hayward outshot Medford 19-9 in a back-and-forth first period and put four of those shots in the net. The puck then stayed buried in Medford’s ends for most of the last two periods with the Hurricanes scoring twice in each one.

Medford kept Hayward off the board until the 7:02 mark of the first period when Sheehan assisted Abby Elliott. Colby Sprenger scored at 10:37, then Sheehan got her first two goals of the night at 11:09 and 13:57. The first of Sheehan’s goals came on a power play.

Sprenger scored a power play goal 1:43 into the second period and Sheehan followed just 1:32 later to put the game out of reach. Sheehan scored at 7:06 and 15:03 in the third period. Hayward outshot Medford 10-2 in the second period and 9-1 in the third.

Medford’s Zayleah Leonhardt had 30 saves on 38 shots faced, while Hayward’s Greta Woelber got the shutout win with 12 saves. Hayward was two for three on power plays. Medford had two power plays but did not convert.

The Raiders fell to 0-2 in varsity play. Medford went 1-1 in a JV tournament hosted in Mosinee by the Central Wisconsin Storm over the weekend. The Raiders fell 2-1 to the University School of Milwaukee Friday, but then beat the Storm’s JV 2-0 on Saturday.

The Storm’s varsity is in Medford today, Thursday, for a 5 p.m. face-off in the Raiders’ home opener for 2023-24. Medford’s challenging opening stretch of the season continues Friday when it visits the Eau Claire Area Stars in another 5 p.m. game that will be played at the Hobbs Ice Arena Akervik Rink.

Union 9, Raiders 2

The Marshfield-based Wisconsin Valley Union co-op hit Medford with a threegoal barrage early in the first period on Nov. 21 and the Raiders never recovered in a 9-2 loss in their season opener.

Jai Dee Menge did most of the damage for the Union, scoring four goals and adding an assist. Amelia Castleberg added two goals and three assists for the Union, who scored on three of five power play chances and improved to 2-0 at the time.

Both of Medford’s goals came in the third period. Down 5-0 to start the period, sophomore Kara Kennedy got the Raiders on the board, scoring a power play goal off a Jaylin Machon assist at the 2:48 mark.

The Union, though, struck back with a goal from Menge just 48 seconds later. It stayed 6-1 until Menge got her third goal of the game at 11:37 to put the running clock into effect. Medford came right back after that, getting the puck into Wisconsin Valley’s zone off the ensuing face-off and getting an Emily Kiselicka goal at 11:58, assisted by Machon and Grace Schmidtfranz.

Menge and Castleberg then put the game away with goals at 13:28 and 15:03.

In just her third varsity start, Leonhardt had 27 saves on 36 shots faced. Madeline Connor had 14 saves for the Union.

Wisconsin Valley took control by scoring its first three goals in a span of 2:16. It started 4:11 in with a Campbell Spees goal with assists from Kaydence McGregor and Castleberg. Castleberg’s power play goal at 5:28 made it 2-0 and Menge’s power play goal at 6:27 capped the early barrage. Both teams had three penalties in the opening period, where Wisconsin Valley outshot the Raiders 12-2.

Jenna Jones scored for the home team 6:05 into the second period and Lily Cichy added a power play goal to make it 5-0 at 12:58.

Medford took advantage of one of its six power plays.