The Hatchet boys hockey team lost big to a pair of state-ranked GNC opponents last week. Pines pulled out a 12-2 rout on Thursday and Antigo ran away with a 15-1 game on Saturday.
Pines reached a 10-0 lead 4:59 into the second period, after a six-goal first.
“My kids were not mentally prepared for a team like Pines,” THS coach Ricky Myre said. “This was a perfect example of age and wisdom over youth and underdevelopment. I was short handed off the bat with injury and sickness as well, but like always my boys skated hard and got a couple goals. We learned a lot from a good team just by the way they played against us.”
Kevin Bolder scored twice in a span of 3-1/2 minutes – set up by Jakob Panzer on the first and Panzer and Alex Ungerer on the second – to cut it to 10-2. Pines would close out the scoring later in the frame.
Pines was paced by Mattej Sklar (2 G, 3 A), Colton Raymond (3 G, 1 A) and Zach Kennedy (2 G, 2 A).
Saves–THS–Dan Hanke 11-11-4–26. NPHS–Jacob Stephan 6-*-*–6, 0 G; Gabe Hartwig *-7-7–14, 2 G.
Robin bobbing
Antigo grabbed a 7-0 lead in the first before Cole Heoppner netted an unassisted goal with :44 left. The Red Robins would add six in the second and two in the third. Eleven different players scored. Alex Nagel (2 G, 2 A) and Zack Levis (1 G, 3 A) led the way.
“Antigo has a huge really good team,” Myre said. “I have sick kids, injured kids and not enough kids. They still skated hard and gave me all they had. However, Antigo had way too much firepower for my small inexperienced team.
Saves–THS–Hanke 15-11-15–41. AHS Ryan Schmidt 4-1-*–5, 1 G; Ben Bartelli *-4-4–8, 0 G.
The Hatchets fell to 1-12 overall (1-7 GNC). Pines (12-1-1, 8-0) is rated 7th, while Antigo (12-1-2, 6-1) is 8th.