Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Oh, what fun it must be to play the boys hockey schedule. If it's not No. 5 ranked Duluth East or No. 8 White Bear Lake causing headaches for the Rangers, then it's No. 10 Cloquet or No. 6 Cretin-Derham Hall challenging the team.

Then again, it could also be the No. 3 Roseville Raiders who are in town.

On Saturday, Feb. 3, Roseville was at Maroon & Gold Arena, and much like their initial meeting in January, the Rangers gave the highly-ranked Raiders a solid game, despite what Roseville's 7-2 win might suggest.

"We didn't have our ëA game' and we were still in the game with six minutes to go," head coach Carl Brandt said. "So 7-2 is probably not indicative, but that is the fastest and quickest team we play."

The Raiders were up 1-0 after the first period, and then 4-2 toward the end of the third, but then they piled it on with three goals in the game's final six minutes.

Brandt felt the final score really didn't do justice for what goalie Paul Moberg did in front of the net. Moberg had to contend with 45 shots on the night, while at the other end of the ice, Roseville's Steve Krech was facing a total of 25.

It was when Forest Lake (9-11-2, 4-8-1) was trailing 2-0 in the second that Jeff Bohnen used an assist from James Woods to pick up the first of his two goals.

Early in the third period, with Roseville up 4-1, Bohnen had help from Jake Kogler to get his and the Rangers' second and final goal of the game.

Heading into the date with Roseville, Forest Lake was looking good and walking tall after the team tied the defending state champs, Cretin-Derham Hall, 3-3 on Thursday night in St. Paul.

"I told the boys that both of these last two games get us ready to play in those section games," Brandt said. "We'd rather play someone that's better and get better, so you take a step forward even though you may not win the game."

This time it was the Raiders of Cretin who got on the board first when they scored on a shorthanded goal after less than five minutes had elapsed.

When Cretin (16-4-1, 10-1-1) scored at the 3:30 mark of the second period to go up 2-0, it looked like the Rangers might lose control. But the boys were simply playing too well, and two minutes later it was Zach Knight setting up Alex Lindeberg to keep Forest Lake in the contest and send Forest Lake on a run of three unanswered goals.

Midway through the third period, Kogler and Kyle Morgan helped Crit Fogerty score, and just over a minute later the Rangers went up 3-2 when Morgan put one past goaltender Ben Hause.

The possible feel-good game of the year would end in a tie, though, when Cretin scored on a power-play with 3:14 left to play in regulation.

Overtime wouldn't change the final result as Moberg made five stops and Hause turned away four shots.

"It was a very exciting game, it was a classic high school hockey game," Brandt said.

"I think the boys did a great job of just keeping their energy -- we actually stuck it to ëem."

The grueling week of top 10 opponents started with a trip to Cloquet, where Forest Lake was denied in its upset bid by the score of 6-2.

Cloquet was consistent in its approach, picking up two goals in each period, while the Rangers could only get one in the first and one in the third.

Andy Hardy and Lindeberg would get the goals, while Kogler, Jake LaMotte, Lindeberg and Woods chipped in with the assists.

"We do try to schedule all of the Section 7AA games as non-conference games," Brandt stated. "Those are the people you gotta beat to get to the state tournament."

The hockey team plays its final two home games of the regular season beginning on Saturday, Feb. 10, when Mounds View takes the ice, and then it's suddenly Cretin on Feb. 13. They wrap it up at No. 7 ranked Woodbury on Feb. 15.

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