Posted: 3/1/06
Elk River puts an end to boys hockey season
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Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
The Forest Lake High School boys hockey team will have to wait one more year to have a chance to earn their first trip to the state tournament as Elk River upended the Rangers 6-3 in the opening round of section 7AA play last Tuesday.
The Rangers started the first period simply trying to get acclimated to Elk Riverís larger Olympic size sheet of ice.
ìUntil you play a team on an Olympic sheet, itís a big adjustment thatís hard to create in practice,î Rangers head coach Carl Brandt said. ìI think we came out trying to get a feel for the rink size.î
The Rangers fell behind 1-0 at the 10:02 mark of the period when Elk River scored on a power play goal.
ì(Rangers goalie) Nate Burris played standing on his head and he kept us in the game,î Brandt said. ìBetween periods we talked about the big ice sheet and bearing down in our play.î
After adjusting to the bigger ice, Kenny Rivet tied the game with a goal 2:28 into the second period. The Rangers later took the lead when Christian Fogerty scored at the 7:08 mark of the period.
The Rangers lead didnít last long as Elk River tied the game just 24 seconds after the Rangers took the lead. Elk River then took the lead at the 8:52 mark.
Brett McGee tied the game for the Rangers when he scored at the 13:31 mark.
ìI think the boys kind of stuck it to them (Elk River),î Brandt said. ìWe had three line rushes where we broke down their defensemen and we got three shots off that all resulted in goals.î
Although the Rangers didnít fair well in the third period as Elk River scored three unanswered goals, Brandt was pleased with the effort put forth by the Rangers.
ìTheir go-ahead goal was off a deflection on a power play,î Brandt said. ìWe had been defending the power play well, but they had a guy standing in front of the net with his stick by his chest and the puck deflected off his stick on accident.
ìA little luck like that for us would have gone a long way.î
Elk Riverís sixth goal was an empty net goal. Burris stopped 39 Elk River shots in the loss.
The Rangers finish the season with a record of 7-18-1.
ìTo this day I still canít put my finger on why the season turned out the way it did,î Brandt said. ìThe boys played hard all season.î
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