In the division one field there is some push from a few teams outside the Top Six, most notably the play of the Notre Dame Tritons. A lopsided loss to West notwithstanding, they upset Neenah 7-4 and ran into a red-hot goalie in Charlie Pickart in a close 3-2 loss to USM. They are a team to be accounted for as the playoffs begin to come into sight.

Hudson, Wausau West and SPASH seem to be holding down the top three spots, but the defending state champions of Edgewood are an under-the-radar 14-1. Hudson remains undefeated against Wisconsin teams. Tomahawk at 14-3 is still a team to be reckoned with and has plenty of playoff experience.

Meanwhile the Hatchet’s Jett Reilly is currently on a 33-game point streak going back to last season. The sophomore has put up impressive numbers this year with 23 goals and 33 assists, averaging 3.47 points per game. He is currently 3rd in the state scoring race. Down at Madison Edgewood there is another prolific goal scorer currently leading the state with 65 points (42G – 23A). Senior Owen Porter has scored two or more goals in every Edgewood game except one this year and has scored in 13 straight games. He has six-two goal games, five hat tricks, two-four goal games and one seven goal game. Porter also leads the state in powerplay goals with 8 along with Jake Albert of Tomahawk and Jackson Pierce of East/Merrill.

De Pere at 14-3-1 is having a great season and did anybody notice the Onalaska/La Crosse Hilltoppers are 12-2? Muskego (11-6) was an overtime loss to Kenosha short of a 3-0 week.  Next week I will look at another program having a good season in the Red Raiders of Sheboygan (8-5).

A trio of gigantic matchups this week include SPASH and West at Marathon Park on Thursday and Fox Cities at Neenah/M/H on Tuesday. The Stars can’t seem to gain any respect despite a 16-1 record, but they can fix that with a win against the Rockets. On Friday the Rockets will drop the puck at KB Willett against SPASH.

The Eagles of Northland Pines continue to hold off Waunakee and McFarland for the top spot in division two. Pines has won nine of their last ten with their only loss coming to Fox Cities. Waunakee has won five straight and McFarland’s only loss in their last eight games is to Edgewood. Those three have seemed to separate themselves from the pack, and while all three aren’t from the same section as in D1, McFarland and Waunakee are both in section four.

I said on the podcast last week that I thought Somerset was still a dangerous team and they made me look good with a 6-1 win over 5th ranked River Falls. Fondy Springs lost twice last week but both were top D1 teams in Neenah and USM. Amery put themselves back in the mix with a 6-4 win over Baldwin/Woodville and I won’t be surprised if those two change places in the poll. Menomonie at 9-5 won eight of ten to catch everyone’s attention, but then dropped a pair of games last week, 3-0 to EC Memorial and 6-2 to River Falls.

Time for Two

When the boys went to two divisions in 2020, I was still coaching on the girl’s side with the Wisconsin Valley Union. While I was elated that our decades long pursuit of two divisions was finally going to become a reality, I didn’t pay a lot of close attention to it. Last season as I began writing for WiPH full-time, I was surprised when I discovered that there was still only a single boy’s All-State Team recognized by the WHCA. I had assumed there would be two.

As I began digging into this subject, most coaches didn’t recall it even being a topic of discussion. That is about to change. The reasons seem obvious to me, starting with two state champions being crowned in two different divisions. Many of the schools in these two divisions do play against each other during the season, but the totality of the two playing fields is much different.

The current single team format heavily favors the big school players in D1. Last year’s WHCA team consisted of 80 players. The breakdown by D1 vs D2 players looks like this: 1st Team (D1 – 22 / D2 – 3), 2nd Team (D1 – 17 / D2 – 7), Honorable Mention (D1 – 21 / D2 – 10). Totaled up, of the 80, 60 were D1 players and 20 were D2 players. Only nine of  thirty-two D2 schools had a player on the team.

Football in Wisconsin has a large school and small school All-State Team and basketball has separate teams for each of their five divisions. In Minnesota where they are Class AA and A hockey, they also have two teams.

Most of the coaches I reached out to were in favor of having two separate All-State Teams. “I would like to see them split - gives players from both sides a chance at All State,” said Tim Berres at River Falls. “I believe it would make sense to have a six player first team (3 F, 2D and 1G) a six player second team (3 F, 2D and 1G) and then a 12 player Honorable Mention for Division 2,” added Somerset’s Dan Gilkerson. Tony Navarre, Homestead head coach, and WHCA Board member, doesn’t remember the subject being brought up when the switch was made. “I do not think the coaches association discussed anything regarding state recognition when the split was made, but I am not against a D1/D2 All-State Team.”

With a lot of help from Mark Matthews, I ran the boys WHCA All-State Team for over twenty-five years. I learned through my tenure that these award processes are not perfect and there will always be parents, players and coaches that are unhappy. It is a lot of work, but I do believe the recognition for our best players is well worth the effort. This is not about making things equal, it is about fairness, and I believe if the D2 boys compete for a different trophy, they should be entitled to their own All-State recognition.

Top Six Games

Somerset 6  River Falls 1: The Spartans made a huge statement with a convincing 6-1 defeat of the 5th ranked Wildcats. Devin Richardson led the way with two goals and two assists and in net Carson Belisle came up one shot short of a shut out with 23 saves.

Wausau West 6  Marshfield 4: The Marshfield Tiger gave the Warriors all they could handle and it wasn’t until Tyler Wendall’s third period powerplay goal that West got their breath back in a tight 6-4 Warriors win. Landen Trubee and Cole Kenney gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the first. The Warriors rattled off three straight to take the lead before Cole Kenney tied it at 3-3. Leading 5-2 late in the second, Marshfield’s Cashton Anderson brought the Tigers back to within a goal at 16:25.

Orrin Brinkley made his third appearance of the season in the West net, but was relieved by Julian Scalcucci after allowing four goals on 13 shots. Neil Mullins bounced back from Tuesday’s loss, with 39 saves for Marshfield.

River Falls 6  Menomonie 4: After winning 8 of their last 10, the Mustangs dropped their second in a row 6-4 to the Wildcats. River Falls used a dominate first frame, outshooting Menomonie 19-9 to take a 3-1 lead on a pair of goals by Jake Vezina and another by Jaxon Flanagan. Both would finish the game with hat tricks, scoring all of the Cats goals. Menomonie’s Davin Ellis posted 44 saves.

Northland Pines 7  Antigo 1: The Eagles suffocated the Red Robins allowing only five shots on goal in a sound 7-1 win.  Josh Graves continued to make his case as one of the state’s top blueliners with two goals and two assists. He is 9th in the state scoring race with 19 goals and 31 assists. Hats off to Antigo’s Austin Martinson who battled Pines with a 50 save effort.

Waunakee 6  Monroe 2: Jake Olday posted his 10th and 11th goals as Waunakee handed the Cheesemakers a 6-2 loss for their 9th win. Waunakee outshot Monroe 38-19 with Brock Brandli stopping 32 for the Cheesemakers.

McFarland 7  South Central 0: The Spartans dominated the Navigators compiling a 60-15 shots advantage in a 7-0 road win. Boden Wagner and JJ Blattner each scored twice for the Spartans and Bryson Callaway was stellar in net for South Central with 53 stops.

Hudson 4  EC North 0: A scoreless contest for the first 34 minutes, Hudson erupted with two goals in the first 1:24 of the third period in a 4-0 win over the Huskies. The Raiders won their 7th straight and ran their record to 12-2. Brady Swanson had two goals for Hudson, while North’s Landon Ivey did all he could with 35 saves in the loss.

Edgewood 6  Madison West 0: The defending champions are quietly having a great season. Their only loss came to Wausau West, and the Warriors needed 4 third period goals to accomplish it. They had their way with the Regents on Thursday in a solid 6-0 victory for their 13th. Owen Porter had a hat trick and currently leads the state in scoring with 65 points (42G – 23A).

USM 6  Fondy Springs 0: USM took a 3-0 first period lead and got two goals each from Henry Bechthold and Everett Waltersdorf as they dispatched the Ledgers 6-0 at Uihlein Arena.

Notre Dame 7  Neenah 4: Coming off an embarrassing 11-2 loss to Wausau West, the Tritons responded beating the 4th ranked Rockets 7-4. Both teams came out flying, together scoring three times in the first 2:08 of the game. Notre Dame led 3-1 after one and 5-2 after two. Neenah closed the gap to 5-4 with just under two and a half minutes to play, but the Tritons punched back with two more goals to put the game away. Owen Atkinson for Notre Dame and Cartyr Simonson for the Rockets each had a three point night.

Waunakee 2  Onalaska/La Crosse 0: The Warriors rode the hot goaltending of sophomore Weston Meyer’s 39 save performance to a 2-0 win over the Hilltoppers. Goals from Jake Olday and Max Rucker provided the offense. The Warriors won for the 10th time and snapped the Hilltoppers eight game winning streak. Onalaska/La Crosse is 12-2.

McFarland 7  Avalanche 0: McFarland exploded to score four second period goals in a 7-0 blanking of the Avalanche. The Spartans got a pair of goals from Addison Pennekamp, Broden Wagner and Brady Normington. Steve Hoang needed to make only 15 saves to earn his fourth shutout.

USM 3  Notre Dame 2: The Tritons continued their late season surge outshooting the Wildcats 40-24, but the goaltending of Charlie Pickart, 38 saves, carried the Wildcats to a 3-2 victory. USM got goals from Keegan Scott, Tyler Cook and  Henry Bechthold.

Edgewood 7  Oregon 2: Only a terrific goaltending exhibition by Oregon’s Evan Sweeney prevented this game from being a blowout. Sweeney’s 60 saves kept the Panthers in game and down only 3-2 heading into period three. The Crusaders put up four third period goals to put the game out of reach.