Strong play in front of the net led the Wausau East Lumberjacks to a 3-1 win over the Red Robins in Antigo Thursday night. All four goals were scored on rebounds after the goalies made the initial stops.

Defense in hockey requires discipline. Every player in the defensive zone has a responsibility. Young teams have a tendency to lose that discipline as players get mesmerized by the puck and lose track of their own responsibilities. Such was the case on Thursday night as players were left unguarded in front of the net.

East jumped out to a lead in the first period on a power play goal. Henry Nuckles, grabbed the puck out near the blue line on the right side. He skated down to the corner and around the net before cutting out toward the faceoff dot and fired a hard, low shot on net. Antigo Goalie Ryan Schmidt got his leg pad on it, but kicked it out in front of the net. That is where Zach Comfort was standing, and he hammered home the rebound.

After that, the first period played out evenly, with each goalie recording 11 saves.

The tide turned toward the Lumberjack side in the second period. Comfort was again left unmolested in front of Schmidt, and he recorded another rebound goal at 5:21. For some reason, the original shooter was not credited with an assist.

The Robins were successful in killing off a five minute major penalty for Slew Footing in the middle of the period, but did give up another rebound goal at 14:24. This time it was Nuckles who banged home the rebound after a shot by Jared Wurster. The Lumberjacks outshot the Robins 18 to 8 in the second period.

Antigo was able to score it’s only goal late in the game, with their goalie pulled as Matt Wolter got control of the puck and drove hard to the net. East Goalie Anthony Lashua stopped the shot, but Connor Langseth was following up on the play, and he knocked in the rebound.

Final saves were 32 for Lashua and 36 for Schmidt.