Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Round two of the Suburban East Schedule should be an entertaining ride for the girls hockey team, as programs like Stillwater, Roseville and White Bear Lake make the trek north to Maroon and Gold Ice Arena.

On Saturday, Jan. 6, it was the Stillwater Ponies taking the ice against Forest Lake, and this one was even tighter than their early season match-up, where the Rangers hung on to win, 3-2.

When the two teams played in November, Forest Lake goalie Kim Fredrick was extremely busy, making 32 saves, compared to just 18 for the Ponies' Amanda Plumm. Last weekend, the gap was even larger, with Plumm only seeing 13 shots, compared to a staggering 43 for Fredrick in the 1-1 tie.

Another large difference in numbers can be seen in the box score, where head coach Paul Kendrick saw his girls get penalized 17 times to just eight for Stillwater.

"We spent 36 minutes in the box out of 50-plus minutes for the game," Kendrick said. "And for the majority of the time, and for many of them, we were all wondering, Why?"

With a healthy amount of penalties in the first period, neither squad could score, as both Stillwater and the Rangers managed six shots.

Like many Forest Lake games this season, the scoring began in the second, where the Rangers needed all 17 minutes on the clock to get their lone goal.

At 4:37 of the second period, Stillwater used the advantage of a power play and a deflection to make it 1-0. It wasn't until the 16:55 mark that senior Bri Craig came to the rescue, when she used an assist from junior Briana Gray to even the game at one apiece.

In the third period, Stillwater unloaded 22 shots on the Forest Lake defense, but the score would remain, 1-1. With neither team able to sneak one in during overtime, the only scoring would be limited to the second period.

"When we were able to be five-on-five in those rare moments, I felt that we were outplaying them," Kendrick said.

On Tuesday, it was No. 4 Roseville (12-3-2, 6-0-2) who was able to fight off the Rangers for a 7-1 win, and then Forest Lake (12-4-2) is off to Woodbury on Friday, Jan. 12, before the White Bear Lake game next Tuesday.

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