Dickens propels Hatchets to Sectional final

TOMAHAWK –  Star Tomahawk junior forward Jonah Dickens, who leads the top-ranked Hatchets in goals this year, made his presence known with four goals in a 6-3 win over No. 4-seeded Northland Pines in the Sectional semifinal in Tomahawk on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Dickens scored twice in the first and twice in the second to give the Hatchets a 5-2 cushion after two periods.

The home Tomahawk crowd erupted early as Dickens took advantage of a turnover just 33 seconds into the game and scored on the breakaway to make it 1-0.

Pines answered relatively quickly on one of its many power play opportunities, having had nine on the night. Freshman Cooper Saari buried a rebound to the right of Tomahawk’s Trevor Seliskar to knot things up at 1-1. The two sides skated hard to find opportunities, but both goaltenders stayed clean for the rest of the period, until Dickens netted his second with 35 seconds left in the first. It was a 2-1 game after one period and Tomahawk held a 12-5 shot advantage. 

Pines came out with energy in the middle period and fired 15 shots on net. 

Tomahawk’s Jett Reilly fired a shot early in the second that was initially saved by Pines netminder Evrett Leslie, but a second and third poke at the puck forced the puck across the goal line for a 3-1 advantage. 

The Eagles would find an answer again nearly seven minutes later at 9:46 of the second. A lofted pass flew over the Tomahawk defensemen and found the streaking Peter Anderson through the neutral zone and beat Seliskar one-on-one to get back within a point, 3-2. 

Dickens retaliated with his crafty shot and put one top shelf 45 seconds later to regain the two-goal lead. 

His dominance continued as he put the Hatchets up 5-2 at the 11:59 mark and that was the score at the second intermission. 

The third period started and had 10 penalties alone as the two teams had to work through a variety of power plays and penalty kills. 

While on a 5-on-3 power play, Pines’ Michael Schmidt lit the lamp at 4:14 of the third to gain back some momentum while still remaining on the power play. 

Tomahawk killed that penalty and four others to keep a two-goal cushion throughout the third. In a last-ditch effort, Leslie was pulled and Pines had a sixth man on the ice. After a few attempts at the net, Tomahawk sealed the victory with an empty net goal. 

Tomahawk will now face No. 2-seeded Mosinee in the Sectional final in Mosinee on Friday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.