Joe Drennan
Sports EditorSeeded sixth in section 7AA, the Forest Lake High School boys hockey team was hoping to go deep into section playoffs, and possibly onto the state tournament.
The sixth seeded Rangers took their 8-17-1 record and traveled up to play Brainerd last Tuesday night in the first round of section playoffs. The two teams met earlier in the season and Brainerd won 3-1. Since that early meeting the Rangers worked hard and came together as a team.
ìWhen we played them originally we didnít have one of our better games so I thought that we could beat them by the way our kids were playing at the latter end of the season,î Rangers head coach Carl Brandt said.
The Rangers struggled through much of the first half of the season, but seemed to have everything in sync as they headed into the section playoffs, winning their last four games.
In last Tuesdayís game, the Rangers struck first when Joey Lindeberg scored a goal assisted by Pat Fogerty and Robbie McCollum. Despite outscoring Brainerd in the first period, the Rangers were outshot 20 to 7. Several first period Rangers penalties led to the onslaught of Brainerd shots.
ìI thought we played really well,î Brandt said ìWe were forechecking pretty aggressively, and even though seven shots, they were quality shots.î
Shortly after the second period started, it looked as though the Rangers added to their lead. The referee standing behind the net motioned that the Rangers had scored, but the linesman waved off the goal saying the net was knocked off its moorings.
ìThat could have been a real momentum changer for us,î Brandt said.
Brainerd evened the score in the second period, then added three more goals in the third period. Brainerd outshot the Rangers 45-23 enroute to beating the Rangers 4-1. The loss to Brainerd meant the end to the Rangers season.
ìI think we could have still played better compared to how we were playing,î Brandt said.
Lindeberg led the Rangers in scoring this season with 10 goals and four assists for fourteen points, followed by Matt Fredrickson who had seven goals and seven assists for 14 points. Dustin Carlson played every minute in the nets for the Rangers, compiling a 0.91 save percentage, and 3.34 goals against average.
ìI think going into the season we were sort of hoping that five or six guys would have gotten goals this season. I think we only scored 56 goals all year,î Brandt said. ìYou canít win a lot of games with goal totals like that. If we could have just gotten a little bit more scoring our record could have been on the positive side of 500 because we stuck in enough games.î
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