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Matthew Kaitchuck leads Pines to victory in Antigo

By Bill Berg, 01/25/12, 7:30AM CST

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Eagles down Robins 3-1

Senior defenseman Matthew Kaitchuk led the Northland Pines Eagle to a 3-1 win over the Antigo Red Robins in a Great Northern Conference game at the Langlade County Arena on Tuesday night.

Kaitchuk put the Eagles ahead just 2:27 into the first period when he came into the Robins zone along the left boards, cut in at the face-off circle and fired a wrist shot that beat Robin goalie Ryan Schmidt over his left shoulder. Pines controlled most of the action in that first period, but Schmidt was able to keep the Robins from falling any deeper in the hole, stopping 16 shots in that stanza.

Antigo took advantage of an Eagles penalty with a power play goal just a minute and half into the second period. Justin Wegter got the puck around the hash marks on the outside of the right faceoff circle and was allowed to walk in towards the net. He saw an opening on the short side and fired a wrist shot that beat Pines goalie Jacob Stephan. The Robins continued to apply pressure on the Eagles in the first half of the second period, but were unable to get many pucks past the Pines defense and in on the net.

The smooth-skating Kaitchuk was able to diffuse the Robins pressure by himself several times in that period. He’d get control of the puck in the corner and just take off up the ice with it, weaving his way untouched through the Antigo skaters.

As the period progressed, the Robin defensemen started pressing a bit in the offensive zone, allowing Pines players to get behind them with the puck. Three times Schmidt was able to stop the shots, but on that third attempt, by Adam Kresl, Austin Ramesh was following and knocked in the rebound to put the Eagles back on top 2-1.

The Eagles added a short-handed insurance goal in the third period. Sloppy puck-handling in the corner by the Robins’ defenseman led to turnover, giving Trevor Laszczkowski the puck and a path to the net. Laszczkowski came out from the corner and fired a low angle shot. Schmidt got most of it and it then hit off the pipe, bounced straight out and hit Schmidt in the back and bounced in.

Ryan Schmidt stopped 40 shots on the night, Jacob Stephan stopped 12.
 

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