Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

It’s just four games into the girls hockey season, but with a 4-0 record, the Forest Lake Rangers look like it’s going to be a wonderful winter.

As upcoming opponents scout Forest Lake and check the statistics, they’re going to discover a group that can score in any situation, a goalie who seems ready to receive the NHL’s Vezina Trophy, and a crew that might be more frightening when they’re playing shorthanded.

Last week the girls stayed on the road for three more games, and won all of them by a combined score of 11-2.

The most recent victory came on Saturday, Nov. 17, when the Rangers knocked off St. Francis, 3-0. Senior captain Torri Shelafoe picked up two goals, while line-mate Ashley Grell knocked in the other.

Collecting her first shutout of the year was goaltender Kim Fredrick, who turned away 37 shots on the afternoon.

The girls came into the St. Francis game two days after a 4-1 win over Chisago Lakes/Pine City. In this contest it was freshman Audrey Hanmer who got things going, when she used a Charise Kendrick assist to put Forest Lake up 1-0 at the 9:35 mark of the first period.

Hanmer, a defenseman, would come back five minutes later and score again; this time during a Ranger penalty kill, which has quickly become the norm for head coach Heidi Link’s team.

Chisago Lakes’ Laura Green would make it 2-1 just before the first intermission, but that would be all for the Wildcats offense.

A little more than five minutes into the second period, senior Kelsey Blum would set up Shelafoe to give Forest Lake another two-goal advantage. Kendrick would make it 4-1 with less than a minute left in the game and give the Rangers their third victory over a Section 7AA opponent.

The season’s second win came on Nov. 13 at Cambridge-Isanti/Mora, with Grell taking her turn as the offensive hero. The junior scored early and late in the first period to put Forest Lake up 2-0, and then Shelafoe would make it 3-0 in the second, with the assist coming from Hanmer on the shorthanded goal.

Cambridge avoided the shutout when Whitney Schaff scored in the third, but Hanmer would connect with Sarah Solheid one minute later and close out the eventual 4-1 win.

The girls finally played at home on Tuesday against Woodbury, and then hit the road again on Saturday for a game at Park.

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