Last Updated: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:30 AM CST
Storm cause damage to Hodags
by Greg Bates - Daily News Sports Editor - gbates@rhinelandedailynews.com
RHS drops season opener 5-0 to Central Wisconsin
Johanna Sommers had her work cut out for her Tuesday night. The sophomore goaltender stopped 52 shots for the Rhinelander girls' hockey team, but it was in a losing effort.
The Central Wisconsin Storm -- which consists of players from Wausau East, Wausau West, D.C. Everest and Mosinee -- peppered Sommers all night and scored a 5-0 victory at the Rhinelander Ice Arena in the Hodags' season opener.
“I'm impressed with Rhinelander's goaltender. She really made it difficult,” Central Wisconsin head coach Dennis Drake said. “We had to be right on with our shots.”
Sommers seemed to always have a Storm player lurking on the doorstep the entire game. Sommers was tested early as the Storm put 14 shots on goal in the opening period. The Hodags had just eight shots on goal the entire game.
After a scoreless first period, Drake talked to his girls in the locker room and devised a scheme to help create some scoring opportunities. The Storm moved the puck around the perimeter more in the second period and got the Hodag skaters out of position. Central Wisconsin was able to capitalize with four goals in a 10-minute, 25-second span to break the game wide open.
“We let them get in too close,” Rhinelander head coach Wil Losch said. “You're not going to get away with two bad periods against a team like this.”
The Storm (2-0 overall) registered 28 second-period shots as Morgan Pearson opened the scoring with a power play goal at 5:21 on an assist from Tiffany Hladovak. Hladovak, who is just a freshman, tallied the next goal at the 10:06 mark past a diving Sommers with assists going to Michelle Wanserski and Cally Gorski. Lindsey Drake scored her team's third goal off a feed from Hladovak at 13:40. Just 1 minute, 13 seconds later, Michelle Michalski beat Sommers for an unassisted goal on a breakaway.
During the Storm's scoring outburst, the Hodags were worn down by the persistent pressure. The Hodags weren't as deep as the Storm with the home team skating just two lines to the Storm's three.
“I think that caught up to us a bit,” said Losch. “But we were slow from the start.”
That slow start, however, wasn't due to a lack of desire in the locker room, Losch noted. His girls were up for the season opener, but they played a solid squad.
“We won't see too much tougher than this,” Losch said.
The Storm -- who were 1-for-6 on the power play -- scored the game's final goal in the third period when Gorski netted a shorthanded tally with the assist going to Lauren Duerst.
With the Hodags have a rough first game, Losch pinpointed what his team needs to work on before hosting Lakeland Thursday at 7 p.m. Losch wants his girls to improve on their passing, clearing the puck out of their zone and overall execution. Losch said three of the Storm's five goals were due to players being out of position.
The Hodags will have to have short memories and forget about the loss because they have less than 48 hours before rival Lakeland comes to town.
“The girls will come out ready to play Thursday,” Losch said.
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Hodag Rachael Gardner brings the puck up the ice while teammate Jacque Fritz follows her in the second period Tuesday.
Greg Bates/Daily News
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