By Craig Marx, Editor

Antigo hockey entered both Tuesday evening and the K.B. Willett Arena ranked No. 10 in the state. Stevens Point was No. 9. Everyone knew that a battle would ensure, but Antigo simply could not maintain a lead in the final 17 minutes of play, losing 4-2 to the Panthers.

The Red Robins entered the third period with confidence, holding a two-goal lead over Point thanks to goals from CJ Levis and Andrew Turunen in the first and second periods, respectively. The advantage seemed enough, but as soon the third period began the Panthers awoke.

Just 45 seconds into the final frame, Panthers ace Cole Caufield netted the first of what would be a trio of goals for himself on the power play. Antigo still held on to a one-goal lead.

At the 2:03 mark of the third, Jacob Beilke scored the tying goal unassisted. What had been a great 34 minutes between two periods for the Robins was now a 2-2 deadlock with slightly less than 15 minutes remaining.

Caufield picked up his second goal of the night with just under seven minutes to play in the third period, and later caped his hat trick evening with an empty netter following Antigo goaltender Ben Bartletti’s pulling.

Antigo outshot Point 31 to 16 as Bartletti came away with 12 saves, while his SPASH counterpart, Phil Trzebiatowski, made 29 stops against the Robins.

Husnick picked up another assist on the first goal of the evening by Levis. Garret Held and Isaac Wickersheim also added help later on, assisting on Turunen’s second period score.

The Robins (now 1-1) will face New Richmond on the road on Friday evening, beginning at 7 p.m. New Richmond has yet to play this season, opening the year at Amery tomorrow night.