Some losses stay with you longer than others. As the Spooner Rails headed to Medford for a Tuesday evening clash with the Medford Raiders, Head Coach Nick Freeman was still thinking about a Saturday loss against Antigo. “It was our best effort of the season,” lamented Freeman. However, three third period goals by the Red Robins dynamic duo of Eli Kassler-Owen Dickman turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-2 loss. “It was a step in right direction,” said the former Rail, “but this team needs a positive outcome.”

The Rails kept moving full speed ahead on Tuesday with a much needed 4-1 win over Medford at the Simek Recreation Center. Senior center Owen Dernovsek paced the Rails attack scoring twice and assisting on a third goal. Sophomore goaltender Daulton Brummond entertainingly stopped twenty-four shots to earn the win.

Dernovsek asserted his presence early in the opening period when he slipped past a trio of Raider defenders, but lost control of the puck as he got to the goal mouth. Medford would strike first on the powerplay at 9:29. Grady Crass redirected a shot by Jacob Doyle past Brummond for a 1-0 lead. Spooner flirted with tying the game on a backdoor chance by Trent Lindstrom and a couple of nice individual efforts by freshman Masen Hopwood. The period ended with a 1-0 Medford lead, with each team credited with a modest five shots on goal.

“Coming into last night's game, I thought the previous five periods we played were very solid effort and the output from our players that we had been striving for,” according to Raiders Head Coach Klayton Kree. “We were trying to carry that feeling into the game, and coming out of the first with a one-goal lead was great.”

Midway through period two, with the Raiders Doyle off for tripping, junior Mason Sobralski retrieved a puck behind his own net and weaved his way to a short-side goal from the paint to tie the game at 1-1.

The aggressive Rails penalty kill would set up their second goal on a beautiful drop pass from Dernovsek. The senior captain stole a puck at the center red line and streaked down the right wing, dropping a pass to Morales who one-timed a missile over the glove of Talen Albers. It is one of the prettiest goals I have seen all season.

Dernovsek set up his first goal when he retrieved his own rebound in the left-wing corner and circled out toward the net. Medford’s Tucker Phillips separated the puck from Dernovsek but Trent Lindstrom gathered it in the corner and fed Dernovsek who tapped it home from the top of the blue paint. It was a back breaking goal coming with just eighteen seconds left in the period. It completed a dominant period for the Rails who outshot the Raiders 14-4.

To the Raiders credit they pushed hard in the third period amassing sixteen shots on goal, but Brummond, who his head coach calls the “backbone of the team” was perfect stopping all sixteen. The sophomore goaltender with an affinity for playing the puck and enjoying the game, finished his evening with a snow angel at center ice after the teams had vacated.  

Senior Trent Albers finished with 26 saves for the Raiders.

Kree liked his team’s third period response, “We skated hard and created chances, but we just weren't able to find the back of the net. Their goalie played a great game.”

Dernovsek and Morales, who bring the energy that seems to drive this Rails train, combined for a goal at 7:42 of the third to complete the scoring. “They are the workhorses that get us going the right direction,” said Freeman.

Spooner (2-7) will have little time to enjoy their victory as the 4th ranked Somerset Spartans (8-3) come to town on Thursday and the highway 53 rivalry with Rice Lake (3-6) convenes on Saturday. Medford (2-12) will face East-Merrill United (5-9) in Merrill on Friday as part of the Charlie Phelps Memorial tournament.

Three Stars of the game:

1-SP-Owen Dernovsek, 2-SP-Brummond, 3-MD-Phillips

Blue Collar-SP-Morales