By Chris Oatman, Correspondent

It was all Eagles during a 6-1 rout of the Ashland Oredockers at the Eagle River Sports Arena Jan. 11, which was a bounce back from a 4-2 loss to Hayward Jan. 7 inside the same building.
The Eagles came into the Ashland game with a 5-8 record before completing business.
Pines started strong and led 2-0 after one period on goals by Michael Schmidt, assisted by Sam Shrock and Cooper Saari, and by Morgan DePuydt with helpers from Peter Anderson and Saari.
“Michael Schmidt is an unbelievable hockey player and teammate. He’s been really great for us this year,” stated Pines head coach Zach Otto. “He has a lot of heart, and you know every time he steps on the ice you’re going to get 100%.”
Ashland finally answered in the second period to make it a one-goal game, but DePuydt assisted on a goal by Jazek Jantzen and the Eagles were back up by two at 3-1 going into the third.
Pines owned the third with three unanswered goals, one by Nicholas Hahn with an assist from Easton Otto. Saari scored unassisted and Schmidt went solo for the 6-1 victory.
Schmidt’s two-goal performance came about a year after he previously suffered a scary concussion in a home game.
The Eagles also had a home game with Hayward Jan. 7 and lost to the Hurricanes, 4-2.
Pines could not get much of anything going in the first two periods and trailed 2-0 as Hayward tallied both goals in the middle frame.
Things got interesting when Anderson scored from Cooper Saari early in the third period to get the Eagles within a goal.
Hayward found the net with 11 minutes left, but an unassisted tally by Michael Schmidt made it a one-goal game again with nine minutes to go.
The Eagles scrambled to tie it, but Hayward scored into an empty net with a minute left and held on for the 4-2 win.
“This team needs to consistently play three solid periods,” said Otto. “We can’t have letdowns for an entire period. The goal keeping (by Evrett Leslie) was good as usual, but we have to keep more pressure on in the offensive zone,” he said.
The Northland Pines boys hockey team has a current record of 6-8 and 1-2 in the Great Northern Conference (GNC).
The Eagles were scheduled to play Rhinelander in a GNC game Tuesday at 7 p.m. That game was set to be played in Eagle River.
Pines will travel to Antigo for a GNC game on Thursday at 7 p.m. and will go to Medford for another GNC contest on Tuesday, January 21, at 7 p.m.