BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
East Merrill Newman United (EMU) Bluejacks Varsity Hockey Team were on the ice playing against the Rhinelander Hodags in a non-Conference game on Jan. 20, 2024, at the Merrill Area Recreation Center (MARC) rink and scored an exciting 6-5 Bluejacks win in overtime.
Bluejacks #19 Kanin Jahnke got the first score on the board with an assist from #8 Connor McCorkle at just 2:28 minutes into the first period to take an early lead, but the Hodags evened it up with a score of their own at 9:64, and that was pretty much a wrap for the first period. The teams were tied at the buzzer 1-1.
In the second period, the Bluejacks again took the lead, this time putting two in the net in fairly rapid succession, at 6:08 minutes and 6:55 minutes respectively. #17 Zach Pagel scored the first with an assist from both #15 Jackson Pierce and McCorkle, and Jahnke made the second goal unassisted.
The Hodays again fired back, landing two of their own at 7:39 and 9:33, and that ended the second period with another tie, this time 3-3
Going into a third period, EMU again took the lead, with Pagel scoring an unassisted goal at 9:13, but Rhinelander came back with two goals, one at 10:08 and the next at 11:28 to first even it up and then put them in the lead. The Bluejacks weren’t having that and Pagel quickly fired another one into the net unassisted to score a goal of their own at 11:38, again tying things up, now 5-5 at the buzzer.
And that put this exciting game into overtime. As in each of the three prior periods, the Bluejacks were first to land one in the net, and it was Pagel with an assist from #25 Liam Zdroik that landed them the win. Final score: 6-5 for a Bluejacks win.
“The boys put in a great effort and it payed off,” said Assistant EMU Bluejacks Coach Greg Glovinski. “Zach and Kanin both stepped up for us at the right time. It was awesome to be apart of a great team win.”
Key game stats: Zach Pagel (4 goals), Kanin Jahnke (2 goals), and Chase Klebenow (Goalie) first Varsity win in net. Klebenow made 24 saves in the game.
Box Score
Rhinelander 5 @ East Merrill Newman United 6