skip navigation

Red Robins wear down the Eagles

By Bill Berg, WiPH Staff, 12/17/15, 10:00PM CST

Share

Two late goals give Antigo a 3-1 win over Northland Pines

The Antigo Red Robins were relentless in their attack on the visiting Eagles of Northland Pines in Thursday night’s game of the week at the Langlade County Ice Arena. Ethan Polich, the Eagles goalie, was kept very busy, but he kept Pines in the game right up to the end, despite facing five times the number of shots as his counterpart from Antigo.

This game was an early battle for supremacy in the Great Northern Conference, each team coming in unbeaten within the GNC, with comfortable victories in all their games. Each team featured a high-powered offense and a stingy defense, with a 6 goal loss to Stevens Point as the only blemish Pines’ record.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first, with a power play goal early in the first period. With Arin VerHagen in the box for hooking, Jack Rhode carried the puck into the Robins zone along the right side.  The defense forced him wide and behind the Robins net, from where he passed out front to Colton Raymond who beat Antigo goalie Ben Bartletti with a quick one-timer at 4:54.

Antigo tied it up six minutes later when Alex Nagel took a long pass from Zack Levis in the neutral zone, then got around the Eagles’ defenseman. Nagel walked in on Polich from the left side and put a wrist shot over Ethan’s glove.

The Robins put a lot of pressure and a lot of rubber on Polich, but the Eagles’ defense didn’t allow Antigo to get man clean rebound shots. And when they did, Polich denied them. “Pines had a good defensive scheme to keep our offense at bay,” said Antigo coach Matt Borneman. “They were ready for us.”

Polich recorded 18 saves in the period, while Bartletti stopped 4.

The second period looked like a copy of the first, but without the scoring. Antigo controlled play and got shots to the net, but couldn’t convert any of them into goals. The Eagles, on the other hand, didn’t get any shots to the net in the second period.

The speed and physicality of the Robins finally started to take its toll on the Eagle late in the third. With Pines skating short-handed, Nagel carried the puck from the right corner out to the blue line, then turned and fired a low wrist shot toward the center of the net. CJ Levis was left alone in front of Polich and put his stick blade out to tip the puck over the goalie’s outstretched glove.

Antigo added the clincher a minute and a half later when Nagel fired a cross-ice pass to Tyler Husnick, who put a hard shot on net. Polich stopped it, but Adam Schmidt was left alone in front of the net to tap in the rebound.

“Our first line came through, finding a way to get it done despite an aggressive and physical Pines defense,” said Borneman after the game.

WiPH Game Summaries