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Raiders return to finals with 4-1 win over Verona

By Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 03/02/18, 7:15PM CST

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Bennett Schrank leads Hudson with two goals

The Raiders and the Wildcats played a lot of back-and-forth hockey for most of the period, with no scoring until the final two minutes of play, and both were of the special teams variety.

First, with Hudson on the penalty kill, the Raiders got a turnover and the puck ended up on the stick of Ben Lundeen, who drove down the middle and made an 'Oops, I did it again' Lamoreaux-type deke to put Hudson up 1-0 with 2:45 left in the first. Cole Danielson had an assist on the play.

Then on the same penalty, Verona's PP unit scored on a shot from the top of the right circle by Graham Sticha that trickled through the five-hole of Hudson goalie AJ Cohen with just under two minutes left. Give Leo Renlund a helper on the play that tied the game at one.

At the end of the period, a Verona penalty would give Hudson a power play chance. In the period, Cohen had four saves, while Garhett Kaegi stopped eight shots for Verona.

Just over a minute into the middle period, Bennett Schrank scored for Hudson on a rebound, with assists from Aaron Squires and Grady Gornick to give Hudson a 2-1 lead.

Squires made it 3-1 four minutes later just after a power play ended. He took a pass from behind the net and converted with 11:39 left. Ben Lundeen had an assist on the play.

The period ended with Cohen stopping 10 shots, and Kaegi 11.

Hudson finished off the scoring early in the third period on Schrank's second goal. He grabbed a loose puck on the left side, skated down to the bottom of the left circle and beat the Verona netminder for the 4-1 lead.

Verona almost cut into the lead with about nine minutes left while playing short-handed. An attempt from close-in was whiffed on and the puck slid slowly into the crease. Before anyone could tap it in, Cohen, who was on his back, swung his stick and cleared the puck away.

 

WiPH Game Summaries

The rest of the game was pretty much a penalty-fest, but no further scoring ensued.

Cohen stopped nine shots in the period and ended with 23 saves. Kaegi had three saves and finished with 22 stops.

Verona ended the year with a mark of 21-4-3. The Raiders (27-1-1) will play in tomorrow's title game against the winner of tonight's Waukesha-Eau Claire Memorial.