Last Updated: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:18 AM CST
Stevens Point has better of RHS in rematch
by Daily News Sports
Hodags fall 5-1 after earning tie first time around
The Rhinelander boys' hockey team lost its road game at Stevens Point by a final score of 5-1 on Thursday.
SPASH put the nail in the coffin in a short three-goal burst in the middle of the first period and kept the Hodags from making a come back.
In the first meeting between these two teams, Rhinelander came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the third period and finished the OT in a 2-2 tie.
This time around was no different as Marc Gruber scored his 13th goal of the season for SPASH just 13 seconds into the game. Gruber skated into the Rhinelander zone and faked Jacob Jackomino from left to right then buried a backhander past the Hodags netminder.
The Hodags also found the back of the net in the first period when Tyler Henkel tied it 1-1 when he scored at 8:03 off a feed from Dan Kellen.
Henkel's shot from the top of the face-off circle got past SPASH goalie Isaac Gorell (21 saves) who had traffic in front of him on the play.
But with the rest of the damage that came in the first 17 minutes of play, Rhinelander never had a chance.
It started when Henkel was sent off for tripping and Point's power play line got the go-ahead goal on Gruber's second score (10:40) with assists from Kyle Smith and Matt Larson.
Ryan Trembley's tripping penalty in front of Jackomino (six saves) at 10:48 put Point right back on the man advantage and they made the Hodags pay and then some.
In a stretch of 30 seconds, SPASH scored three goals with Aaron Harstad (10:54 from Austin Heide and Joey Haydock) making it 3-1. Then just seven seconds later, Derek Molski (11:10) tallied another goal off a pass from Zach Graham and SPASH jumped out to 4-1 advantage.
“We gave up four quick goals and that was it right there,” Rhinelander assistant coach Steve Watz said. “You take away that three- or four-minute stretch and it's a different game.”
Jackomino was quickly yanked for Robin Elfvengren (24 saves), but SPASH tallied one more goal before the end of the period.
Connor Donlan scored what turned out to be the final point of the game with a goal at 14:24 from Larson and Heide.
Rhinelander had a chance to get one back with a two-man advantage for the last minute and one-half of the period, but couldn't get it done.
The Hodags stepped it up defensively in the second period and held Point scoreless despite SPASH outshooting the Hodags 13-9.
Watz talked about the changes the team made after a rough first period to try and turn the game around.
“We tried to get them to understand how pathetic their performance in that first period was,” Watz said. “It all centered around just running our system, playing our game, we looked sick
The Hodags were outshot 35-22 in the game, but had the advantage in penalty minutes with five penalties for a total of 10 minutes compared to SPASH (7-8-2, 3-8-2 WVC), finishing with seven calls for 14 minutes.
Rhinelander falls to 4-11-1 overall and is currently in sixth place in the Valley at 4-7-1. The Hodags host Antigo Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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