By Gary Moskalyk
25 Games 9-12-4 Points 22 Pct .440. Streak 4-0-0. Last 10 4-5-1.
6th place.
Goals for 83. Goals against 110. Goal differential -27.
Goals for per game 3.32. Goals against per game 4.40.
Penalty minutes per game 20.2.
Powerplay 15.3%. Penalty kill 80.0%. Shorthanded GF 4. Shorthanded GA 7. Shutouts 0.
TOP SCORERS GP G-A-PTS *-rookie.
Dillon Phillips (25 GP, 10G-14A-24 PTS), Zach Johnson (25 GP, 12G-10A-22 PTS), *Nolan Fowler (18 GP, 11G-8A-19 PTS), Ryan Kayser D (25 GP, 4G-15A-19 PTS), Kaden Postal (24GP, 8G-6A-14 PTS), *Connor Corcoran D (24 GP, 4G-10A-14 PTS), *Colin Baker (22 GP, 6G-5A-11 PTS), *Marshall Thomas (25 GP, 3G-8A-11 PTS).
GOALIES GP W-L-OT GAA SV% Shutouts Minutes)
William Forrester (11 GP, 3-6-1, 4.19, .894, SO 0, 573)
*Rylan Freshwater (12 GP, 4-4-0, 4.69, .891, SO 0, 601)
*Riley Burnett (1 GP, 1-0-0, 1.00, .958, SO 0, 60)
Hot stove with head coach Doug Lein
The Lumberjacks lead the league with 17 rookies in the line-up.
“I think we’re in a really good spot. I think 20 games is that threshold. A guy really starts to figure things out 20 games in, that’s where it starts to click in,” said Lein. “We have a lot of guys who have hit that mark now. Three games under (.500, 9-12-4). Yeah, we dropped those games in overtime, the shootout losses and what not. Those are learning situations for a lot of these kids. A lot of those kids have never been in a 3-on-3, never been in shoot out when it mattered. Nine and 12? That’s a pretty good marker for the first half. I think we’re in a really good spot. . .
Give yourself a chance. If you have a chance to win in the third you’ve done what you needed to do. That process is in a really good place.”
William Forrester, Rylan Freshwater and newcomer Riley Burnett are Wisconsin’s goaltenders going forward. Burnett allowed one goal in his only start.
“We made a trade. We gave up some really good resources to get him. (Jakob Barcelona and Carson Shafor). He’s a Shattuck kid. I think he’s the real deal. I think he’s legitimate. We’ve got a really good core group with our goaltending. We’ve got our 20-year-old in Forrester. Guys need to give him an opportunity to get some wins. Down the stretch Freshwater was clutch for us. Burnett comes in. He’s with us for less than 48 hours. He’s thrown in on that start. . . If Burnett’s not in there and gives us the space we need we don’t win that game on Saturday night.”
The ’05 Burnett and the Lumberjacks defeated Fort Frances 3-1 on December 16th game to give Wisconsin their 4th win in a row heading into break. Burnett stopped 23 of 24. With Shattuck-St. Mary’s Burnett in 2022-23 was 25-9-0 with a 1.79 GAA and .925 save percentage.
The Lumberjacks are playing more physical these days.
“One of our keys to the game, every game, is to out hit every team. In the past I got kids that out-skill everybody. That doesn’t work. You’ve got to put in the physical aspect of it, too.
“We use Dryden as a bench mark. . . We’ve kind of taken a page out of their playbook,” Lein continued. “We’re clean, we’re physical, we’re doing it the right way to separate guys from pucks. But we’re not backing down. It’s definitely something that’s a culture shift for us.”
On special teams, the Lumberjacks, 6-5-2 at home, are clicking away at 28.6 per cent on the Spooner version of their powerplay. On the road, they’re 6.7 per cent with the man advantage, dead last.
“It’s crazy. We have one shorthanded goal against us at home and six against on the road.”
Wisconsin is 3-7-2 on the road.
“For as young as are we’re still trying to figure things out. For a lot of these trips they’ve been the first trips through for the majority of this roster. A lot of these kids haven’t played in Canada. We’re excited about the second half. There’s a big opportunity for us to keep rolling for us.”
Second place Kam River and their .820 winning percentage roll into town for three games January 5th to 7th. Wisconsin has two regulation losses against the Walleye this season at Norwest.
“We’re going to find out a whole lot of what we have for the second half here,” said Lein.