Ten Red Raider seniors stood at the blue line receiving adulation from their home crowd prior to the game between Wisconsin Valley Conference rivals Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids.
But in the end, a trio of upperclassmen on the visiting team played a big role as SPASH scored three goals in the final period to pull away from Rapids, earning a 6-3 victory Thursday night at the South Wood County Rec Center.
Three minutes into the contest, Point had a 2-on-1 rush, but Rapids defenseman Sam Storlie broke up the play to keep Point off the scoreboard.
Not for long, though.
Thirty seconds later, senior Sam Medo scored when his shot from the slot area trickled through the pads of senior goalie Tyler Werne for the early 1-0 lead. Brock Caufield earned an assist on the play.
Medo made it 2-0 midway through the period when he scored on a cross-ice pass from classmate Grant Czaikowski.
The period ended with Point holding a 9-6 shot edge.
Rapids got back in the game early in the middle period.
Senior Tanner Case skated into the slot and pitchforked a backhander past Point netminder Phil Trzebiatowski for the unassisted goal with just over 14 minutes left in the stanza.
Rapids (14-6-1, 7-3 WVC) was unable to convert on a pair of power play chances in the middle of the period.
With just over three minutes left, senior Noah Cychosz grabbed a cross-ice pass from Max Bancker and deposited the puck in the net, adding to the number on the scoreboard, making it 3-1 in favor of SPASH.
Not so fast, said the home squad.
Just 18 seconds later, Case and Isaac Gilbert worked a 2-on-1 to perfection, with Gilbert zipping the puck over the goalie's blocker to cut the lead to 3-2. Storlie also was credited with a helper on the play.
WiPH Game Summaries
WEHL 16U Southwest Skate All The Way To USA Hockey Semi-Finals
- By Coach Hoehn, WEHL 04/16/2024, 5:45pm CDT
WEHL 18U South East Girls at USA Hockey Nationals, March 20-24
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/20/2024, 7:45pm CDT
TW, Wisc Selects, and WEHL at Central Districts
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/16/2024, 9:45am CDT
19U Girls, 18U Boys Lead Six Team Wisconsin Teams to Central Districts
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/11/2024, 11:30am CDT
Tritons Stifle Stars to Go Back-to-Back
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/02/2024, 9:00pm CST
Storm Win Battle of Last Two State Champions
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/02/2024, 4:30pm CST
Gaertig and Two Minutes of Dominance Lead Springs to Division 2 Championship
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/02/2024, 11:45am CST
Tritons Ride Big First Period to Semi-Final Win
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/01/2024, 4:30pm CST
Stars Shine With Extra Attacker To Head to D1 Title Game
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/01/2024, 12:00pm CST
Ice Bears Get the Chance to Defend Their Title
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 02/29/2024, 10:30pm CST
The home boys had a good chance to tie the contest sixty seconds later when Tyler Blaes and Jacob Morman had an odd-man rush opportunity. The pass from Blaes was a little high, causing Morman to grab the puck out of the air. The senior quickly dropped it to the ice, but his shot went wide left.
The last two minutes caused a little controversy as play got a little physical.
A Point player was knocked into the boards but no call was made, while seconds later a Panther was sent to the box for a cross-check.
About a minute later, Brock Caufield was whistled for a 5 and 10 for a CFB penalty. SPASH was able to kill off the 5-on-3 for the remainder of the period.
Rapids held a big 12-5 shot margin in the period.
Starting the period with over four minutes of power play time left, the Red Raiders appeared to be in good position to tie the game. But a turnover and ensuing penalty evened the skaters at four and SPASH took advantage of it.
Czaikowski took a pass from Cole Caufield and wristed a shot from the top of the left circle. The puck appeared to knuckle in flight and flew past the glove hand of the surprised Werne to put the lead back to two.
For the third time, Rapids would cut the deficit in half, just three minutes later.
As the man advantage wound down to 30 seconds, Storlie scored from the high slot to make it 4-3, with an assist to Colton Capelle.
The Panthers (15-5-1, 7-2 WVC) would score the final two goals to put the game away.
Point's Devon Blaes grabbed a pass from Cole Caufield in the neutral zone and skated in, making a deke and sliding the puck past the goalie's left leg with over seven minutes left.
Rapids called timeout with two minutes left, but Point spoiled that strategy, scoring just five seconds later.
A shot from the top of the right circle was stopped by the Rapids goalie, but the rebound landed right in front of Brock Caufield on the low left side and he did not miss, accounting for the final tally. Jarrett Jones and Cole Caufield (playmaker) got assists on the play.
Werne came out for the extra attacker with 1:22 left, but Rapids could not mount a serious attack as the horn sounded on a 6-3 Point victory.
Shots were 12-4 in favor of Rapids in the final 17 minutes of play.
Trzebiatowski finished with 27 saves for SPASH, while Werne was credited with 12 stops for Rapids.
