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Short handed? No prob for Hudson in 4-2 win

By Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 02/04/17, 11:15PM CST

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Grounds scores a pair of shorties in win over West


Top-ranked Wausau West traveled west to take on second-ranked Hudson Saturday afternoon at the John Gornick Arena, only to find that the hosts were not in a hospitable mood. The Raiders scored twice in each of the first two periods to take a 4-0 lead midway through the middle stanza and held on for a 4-2 'upset' of the Warriors in the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Game of the Week.

The Raiders got on the board early in the first on a shot from the left point by Chase Blackmun, who somehow threaded the puck through a forest of legs to get past West goalie Ryan Raff to make it 1-0 at the 3:15 mark.

Hudson put a man in the box a couple minutes later, and in a portent of things to come, went in on an odd-man rush near the end of the power play, only to see Raff make a nice stick save on a shot by Peyton Hanson to deny the scoring chance.

Then after another home team penalty, the Raiders took advantage of the 'man disadvantage' and stretched the lead to 2-0. Aaron Grounds and Grady Gornick busted up-ice on a 2-on-1 break, and Grounds pounded a shot from the right dot past the West goalie at the 8:15 mark. Tanner Gornick got the helper on the scoring play.

That's how the period ended, as Raff stopped three shots for West, and on the other end, Anthony Howard made ten saves for Hudson.

Early in the second period, Cole Danielson had a short-handed chance for Hudson, but Raff kicked out his left pad to negate the threat.

Two minutes later, Grounds struck again while on the penalty kill. Grady Gornick sent a long pass ahead and the talented junior forward stayed onside, caught the puck, and snuck a shot past the glove hand of the West netminder to give Hudson a 3-0 lead. The goal came at 6:14, with another assist to Blackmun.


Aaron Grounds scores his second goal

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Hudson then decided to be conventional and scored while playing 5-on-5 a few minutes later. Isaiah Bewell took a pass in the slot and went bar-down to make it 4-0, home boys, with over seven minutes left in the period. Blackmun earned another assist on the play.

West (18-3-1) got on the board on a nice goal by Hunter Ricklefs. The senior watched as Brandon Thorson slid past the puck in the low slot and then lifted a shot beyond Howard to cut the lead to 4-1.



Hunter Ricklefs (12) scores to make it 4-1


West brought high energy and pressure for the next four minutes or so, but saw Sam Techel get stoned by Howard on a semi-breakaway; a 3-on-1 go awry when a shot went wide; two other nice stops by the Hudson tender; and a Cade Lemmer shot from the slot that went wide left.

Coach B.J. Brandt took a time-out with just under two minutes left while going on a power play, but the Warriors were unable to set anything up as the clock expired with Hudson leading 4-1. 

Howard stopped six shots for Hudson, while Raff made three saves for West in the period.

In the third, Hudson had a couple power play chances early but did not convert before West took a turn with just over five minutes to go.

Zach Pearson grabbed the puck in the low slot and scored past the Hudson goalie to make it 4-2 with 5:06 left. Max Techel assisted on the goal.

West was unable to pull Raff for an extra skater until there were 54 seconds left, but the Raiders defended their goal and came away with the two-goal victory.

Each netminder stopped eight pucks in the period. Game totals: Howard 24, Raff 14.

Hudson improved to 18-2-1, with wins in its last five contests. The loss was the first for West in 17 games, having gone 15-0-1 since an early December loss to University School.


Goalie Anthony Howard and Chase Blackmun (5) try in vain to deny goal by Zach Pearson