Last Updated: Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:54 PM CST
Prep girls' hockey: lakeland 4, rhinelander 2
Lakeland capitalizes on opportunites
T-Birds beat Rhinelander second time around
By Greg Bates - DAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR
When the Rhinelander and Lakeland girls' hockey teams square off on the ice, it's always a tight matchup -- Thursday night in Minocqua proved to be no different.
The Hodags (2-10-1) -- who skated to a 3-3 tie against Lakeland earlier in the season -- had ample chances to turn the tide of the game, but Lakeland's goalie Brittany Borowczyk came up big with 31 saves as the T-Birds won 4-2.
“This game came down to who was going to take advantage of the opportunities because we certainly didn't lose this because we had a lack of opportunities,” Rhinelander head coach Wil Losch said. “We had a couple solid power plays, couple of breakaways -- you can't ask for more opportunities, we've just got to capitalize on them.”
The T-Birds (2-5-1) came into the game on a five-game losing streak and they needed a win to get momentum going in the right direction.
“This team last year went 0-12 in the first half of the season, turned it around and went 12-1 the second half of the season,” Lakeland head coach Rick Zelm said. “I'm hoping that's what's going to happen today -- with this win we're going to start climbing back up that hill.”
Lakeland netted the game's first goal when Brittany Peckels scored late in the first period on assists from Emma Arnold and Brianna Richey.
The Hodags tied the score at 4:16 of the second period on a Holly Trembley goal with assists going to Emily Sisel and Rachael Gardner. Rhinelander had a few chances to pull out in front, including a breakaway by Jacque Fritz, but Lakeland's Borowczyk closed the door. Lakeland regained the lead for good in the second period on an Emily Christian goal right in front of Rhinelander goalie Johanna Sommers. Taylor Thanig and Arnold were credited with assists.
The T-Birds went into the second intermission clinging to a one-goal lead. Zelm instructed his girls to be aggressive and be contention with the slightest of leads.
“I warned them, ‘You can't let them hang around. A one-goal lead is no good against a team like that ‘cause they've got the capability of breaking somebody free and getting a quick goal on you.' I told them the only way to counteract that is to go ahead of them, put ‘em down at least a two-goal cushion. That's what we did, and that's what saved us.”
Lakeland added a goal from Jamie Moll just 46 seconds into the third period to get a two-score advantage. Peckels and Arnold got the assists.
At the 11:02 mark and Lakeland on the power play, Rhinelander's Jenny Crozier got loose on a breakaway and slid the puck past Borowczyk. The goal was Crozier's first of her career.
Rhinelander kept up the pressure in an attempt to tie the game and called a timeout with 51 seconds remaining. Sommers was pulled with 30 seconds left and Lakeland's Moll ended the game by scoring from over 80 feet.
“That's the one where I could take a deep breath because, like I said, this team can come down and score quickly,” Zelm said.
With Moll scoring the long goal, Zelm joked, “I think we found her rang on her shot.
Losch said his girls didn't let up the whole game and were in a position to possibly get a road victory.
“[The girls] were confident on the bench, until they got that empty-netter, that we could send it to overtime,” Losch said.
The Hodags -- who had their game against Ashland Saturday cancelled because of scheduling conflicts -- are off until Thursday when they travel to Medford at 7 p.m.
Losch and his players know they might have let a win get away against Lakeland.
“I think this could have been a game that we could have won 5-4 without even changing much if some of those opportunities get capitalized on,” Losch said.
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Rhinelander’s Jenny Crozier slides the puck past Lakeland goalie Brittany Borowczyk for a goal in the third period of their game Thursday in Minocqua. The goal cut Lakeland’s lead before the home team added an empty-netter to win 4-2. Photo by Greg Bates/Daily News
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