The WIAA Regionals started yesterday and the Northland Pines Eagles played host to the Merrill Bluejays with Pines coming out with a 7-2 victory. Pines was seeded sixth in sectional three while Merrill drew the eleventh seed.

Noah Wittkopf started the scoring from the circles but Merrill was quick to tie up the score shortly after. Austin Burgener snagged the puck, rushed up the ice and couldn’t be caught by Pines’ defensemen as the puck slipped past Ethan Polich’s pads. 

Ryon Ritzer added a goal, nestling the puck between the post and Bryce Broeking’s legs, before Ben Brown was sent to the Merrill penalty box for roughing. Colton Raymond, captain of this year’s squad, capitalized on the power play opportunity while running a cycle type play, giving the home team a 3-1 lead going into the second period. 

Pines had 55 seconds of Joe Maillette’s hooking penalty to kill at the start of the period and after they successfully killed off the penalty, Ryon Ritzer tallied his second goal of the night with Colton Raymond and Noah Wittkopf picking up assists on the play. 

Joe Maillette added a goal for Northland Pines after about half of the period had elapsed, set up by Tucker Wittkopf at the blue line. With TJ Ebert sitting in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, the Eagles found themselves down a man on the ice, but it didn’t stop Connor Cox from picking up a shorthanded goal, extending the score 6-1 in their favor. 

Merrill scored their second goal of the night in the final period along with Noah Wittkopf recording his second of the night, ending the score at 7-2 in favor of the Northland Pines Eagles.  

With the win, Northland Pines advances to play third seeded SPASH in Stevens Point on Thursday at 7:00. Pines and SPASH have already met once this season in a 6-4 victory for SPASH. 

After the game, sophomore defensemen Sammy Spencer made the comment about “focusing on our d-zone (for Thursday), obviously, and we’re going to have to be a lot more mentally prepared than we had to be for tonight against Merrill. SPASH is a lot faster team.”  Make sure you follow Northland Pines on Twitter, @PinesBoysHockey, for live updates!