Two sectional opponents faced off in Eagle River last night as the SPASH Panthers paid a visit to the Northland Pines Eagles on their home ice, the historic ERRA Dome. 

For many of the players, this game was what they were looking forward to most this season. There was a bit of friendly rivalry going on between the two teams as many players play on summer leagues or Team Wisconsin together in the off season. Freshman Jack Rhode remarked, “It’s different playing against them since we are usually teammates and not opponents but I think it gives us an advantage because we know how they play and how to be successful.” 

Before either team put a goal up on the score board, Brock Caufield, Cole Caufield and Grant Czaikowski tested Pines’ net minder Ethan Polich while Connor Cox and Colton  Raymond were diligent in firing shots towards the SPASH net. 

The Panthers registered the first goal after Grant Czaikowski passed the puck over to Brett Heiss followed by Czaikowski picking up his own goal to take a 2-0 lead. Czaikowski rushed the puck up the ice and past Pines’ defensemen Jake Jantzen and Tucker Wittkopf for the tally while his fellow line-mate Brock Caufield picked up the assist. 

The third and fourth goals for SPASH came off of rebounds in front of the net; Zane Fisher was credited with the unassisted goal and freshman standout Cole Caufield scored the fourth goal of the period. Caufield’s older brother Brock and Czaikoski picked up helpers on the play. SPASH outshot Pines 11-10 in the first period. 

Northland Pines dominated the second period, scoring an early power play goal after SPASH’s Jacob Beilke was sent to the penalty box for tripping. Pines’ captain Colton Raymond went head on with Phil Trzebiatowski after a pass from Noah Wittkopf to cut the Panther’s lead 4-1. Freshman Tyler Hunt ripped the puck at the net but Trzebiatowski reached out with a glove save, denying Pines of another goal. 

Jake Jantzen received a head contact penalty with exactly thirteen minutes left on the clock and SPASH capitalized on the one man advantage. The top line of Caufield, Caufield and Czaikowski once again picked up the points on the play as Czaikowski registered the goal and the Caufield brothers got the assists.

Ryon Ritzer and Sammy Spencer took a flurry of shots towards the goal, hoping to get lucky and get the puck into the back of the net. After a shot bounced up off of the cross bar, Ritzer got the puck back off of a drive to the net by Colton Raymond for the second Eagles goal of the night. Just twenty seconds later, Jack Rhode sniped the puck past Trzebiatowski from a pass from Tyler Hunt for the last significant play of the second period. 

Pines found themselves sending out their penalty kill unit early in the final period after Conor Riley drew a roughing penalty and SPASH once again took advantage of the play. Carter Smigaj picked up the goal and Cole Caufield picked up the assist. 

Jacob Beilke was assessed a minor penalty for hooking but Pines was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, leaving the score at 6-3 until Noah Wittkopf cashed in on a power play opportunity. Noah Cychosz was called for spearing by the referees which resulted in a five minute major penalty and a game disqualification, giving the Eagles a power play opportunity for the remainder of the game. 

Pines and SPASH alike were tangled up in front of the visiting team’s net before Jack Rhode managed to get his stick on the puck and passed it over to Noah Wittkopf for the final goal of the night, leaving the score at 6-4 in favor of the Panthers. 

The two teams battled hard and aggressive, providing a great game for the spectators to watch, right until the last minutes when Colton Raymond received a holding penalty. The Eagles fought to the end but ultimately fell short. 

After the game, team captain Colton Raymond made the comment “I think we did some good things tonight such as getting a variety of different scorers, but one hard thing was this was our first game playing a really speedy and skillful team, especially when matching our lines against their first line.” 

Next week Pines has a big matchup in Antigo, December 17th, and according to Raymond “to prepare for next week we have to continue to work on our new defensive zone coverage and because we are fighting several injuries, we need to develop new chemistry with the new lineups.” 

The Eagles host Rhinelander December 10th for a Great Northern Conference game at 7:00 pm.