Between games of the Great Northern Conference Tournament, Bergler and I head to The Sports Page in Medford and had a pizza. While there we got an earful from a Mosinee fan wondering how Caden Schmirler was only second team All Conference, considering he lead the conference in goals and points by a healthy margin.

It is a good question, but not one we're able to answer. Schmirler did have two goals on the day however as Mosinee used a big third period to take down top seed Lakeland 6-3 and take the Great Northern Conference Tournament championship.

The game opened with Mosinee showing off their speed, and Lakeland looking flat footed, but Conference Co-Player of the Year Max Masayesva kept them in it. The Lakeland breakout was a mess in the first period and Mosinee outshot them 13-3.

It wasn't until 3:27 of the second period that Mosinee managed to find a crack and score. In a defensive breakdown for Lakeland, Mosinee's Jaegar Dhein found himself all alone in the slot and he fired a beautiful shot into the glove side corner to give Mosinee a 1-0 lead.

Lakeland answered back quickly though. Lakeland's Aaron Wanta fired a shot through heavy traffic in front that found the back of the net. Mosinee wanted goaltender interference called but the officials called it a good goal and Lakeland was on the board.

That would be all of the scoring for the first two periods, with Mosinee bearing down on Lakeland, outshooting them 29-10 through two.

A bit of bad luck for Lakeland gave Mosinee the lead just 13 seconds into the second period.  A Lakeland defenseman caught and edge and fell down with the  just inside the Lakeland defensive zone off the opening faceoff. Cooper Zastrow picked it up and put a shot on net, but Masayesva turned it away. Unfortunately nobody else for Lakeland had gotten back and Schmirler knocked in the rebound to give Mosinee the lead.

Mosinee extended the lead just 1:15 later. Defenseman Gavin Obremski carried the puck down from the blue line and made a move around two Lakeland players and roofing one from in the clear to make it 3-1 Mosinee.

Lakeland got one back at the 6:59 mark.  Jack Rubo flipped a puck high up and over the Mosinee defense and out of the zone where Aden Thiessen skated under it like a wide receiver and took it the length of the ice and buried it in the top of the net to cut the lead to 3-2.

Obremski would add to the lead however on an excellent power play by Mosinee. After six passes around the zone had Lakeland's penalty killers all crossed up, Great Northern Conference Co-Player of the Year Grant Kuklinski hit Cooper Zastrow who hit Obremski on the back door for the big defender's second goal, and a 4-2 lead.

Lakeland answered back with a power play goal of their own 1:28 later. Aaron Wanta fired a shot from the point on the short side, but missed the net. The puck caromed off the end boards and out to Kort Meyer to fired it into a gaping net to make it 4-3.

Kuklinski would make it 5-3 just a minute later on a nice feed across the crease from Zastrow, and Schmirler would add the proverbial dagger at 16:01 of the third. He blocked a Lakeland pass with his shin guards, and danced around a Lakeland defenseman to come in alone on Masayesva and score making it 6-3.

The 51 shots that Mosinee poured on Lakeland were the most they had allowed this season, with the previous high being the 41 shots Mosinee took against them way back on December 1st. 

"It was a great day of hockey Saturday at Medford," said Lakeland coach Jake Suter. "Mosinee is always a tough opponent and they showed why."

Masayesva stopped 45 of those 51 shots in the loss for Lakeland who fall to 16-4. Aiden Karst stopped 17 of 20 in the win for Mosinee who improve to 18-6. Five of those six losses were to Division 1 teams.