From HodagSports.com

The Hodags squared up against the Lakeland T-Birds Thursday night at the RIA, looking for their first win of the season. In spite of some people thinking that the Thunderbirds are in the midst of a down year, RHS Head Coach M.J. Laggis and crew knew they couldn't take the visiting team lightly. And they didn't.

Lakeland came out fast and scored quickly in the first period but what would turn out to be the theme of the evening, Rhinelander found a way to respond and tie the game. They were never really out of the contest entire night in what would prove to be one of their most competitive match ups thus far this season. They played some of their best hockey all year and kept the visitors within reach right up until the final buzzer, according to Assistant Head Coach Wil Losch.

"Certainly when you're in a game where you're pulling your goalie at the end you found a way to hang on and even though we got out shot we were still competitive," he said.

     What it really came down to for Rhinelander was they didn't get enough shots on goal, or as Assistant Head Coach Wil Losch put it, "… not getting enough rubber on the net." The Hodags only managed 13 shots on goal but they made the best of those attempts by scoring 3 goals. But of course that begs the question, what would have happened if they could have doubled that number of shots on goal?

"You know, you score 3 goals on thirteen shots," Losch said. "Every kid in our locker room knows that you have to get twenty-five shots on goal against a goalie (Lakeland's Jacob Baxter) like that and maybe you got five goals."

A lot of credit has to be handed out to the Hodags for not giving up when they saw that first score go up on the board for the T-Birds, considering how their season has gone so far. But they didn't give up. Instead this scrappy team continued to fight, confident they would eventually find that final kill-shot to put the T-Birds away for good. And even though it wasn't to be on this particular night, the Hodags appeared to have taken the next step in their growth as a hockey team.

"It was a positive bench even when we gave up a goal … you know, that first one to start the game," Coach Losch said. "Heads didn't go down and it was impressive (that they didn't give up)."

The Hodags saw Lakeland take a 2-1 lead after one period but Rhinelander came back to tie the game in the second frame, actually outscoring the Thunderbirds 1-0, and set up the third and final period. With the score tied to start the last stanza, you can bet nobody went home early. Tension in the RIA was high as the two teams took to the ice, but you could've heard a pin drop when, just like that, Lakeland found scored first to jump back out in the lead again 3-2. Some of the Rhinelander faithful may have expected the roof to cave in for Rhinelander at that point but the Hodags held their ground and fought back once again.

"Even when we went into the third period tied, and we give up that goal ... with a lot of teams you can really get a step on them because they sort of give up at that point even if they say they aren't," Losch said. "And our kids didn't." He added, "Given the fact that we made it 3-3 shortly after, I think shows we were doing a fair number of things right tonight."

Rhinelander's offense suffered because of their inability to clear the zone against Lakeland and it showed in their lack of getting more shots on goal for the game. The Hodags found themselves fighting off the offensive attack of Lakeland down in their own zone more than they cared to. However, give credit to their defense for being able to hold Lakeland close enough in order to make things interesting in the late stages of the match.

"(Defensively) I thought our penalty killing was on," Losch said. The coach went on to say the team is still taking too many penalties which continually puts them into those man disadvantage situations. "We're taking too many penalties still, but their penalty kill … they largely controlled the zone. I think we were forcing a lot of the shots from the point instead of right in front of Jake."

Lakeland fired the puck on goal 39 times but Jake Arno came up huge with 34 saves. However, Coach Losch admits that the name of the game is still getting better defensively which will help out their goalie.

"We're still just giving up too many shot than we want to," the coach said. "But the kids know the position, I think we just have to get a step quicker and get into that break-out and heading up ice."

The other thing that seemed to help the Hodags tonight was for the first time this year Rhinelander played a lot of 4-D (4 defenseman) against Lakeland's offensive surge. Coach Losch was in agreement.

"… at high school hockey you really have to do that," the coach said. "I think that was a big difference we saw tonight was playing that 4-D."

It was evident from their combined effort against their conference opponent, the Hodags are getting better at both ends of the ice as the season goes on.

"We're developing," Losch agreed. "I think we're a much better team than we were a month ago, even if it's not showing up on the score sheet or the record yet. We just have to keep moving in that direction."

If what we're seeing is in fact the maturation of a young Hodag hockey team, then it ought to be very interesting to watch them the rest of the season. Up next for Rhinelander, they hit the road for a GNC showdown with Medford on Tuesday. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.

Scoring:
Rhineladner- Ben Franson (9:08 1st)
Bryce Luebke (6:40- 2nd) assit Mike Zuiker and Marc Thorsen
Mike Zuiker (11:52 3rd)
Lakeland- Jake Dern (3:02 1st)
Nik Boyer (8:06 1st) assist Jared Suter and A.J. Oungst
A.J. Oungst (5:08 3rd) assist Jared Suter
A.J. Oungst (13:14 3rd) assist Tyler Peterson
Jared Dern (16:52 3rd) assist A.J. Oungst and Jared Suter

Shots on goal:
Rhinelander 13
Lakeland 39

Saves:
Rhinelander 34
Lakeland 10