|
Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
At first glance it seems a 4-0 record for the boys hockey team would have Forest Lake head coach Aaron Forsythe raving about his squad and talking a big game.
But a closer inspection of the Rangers last two opponents reveals an 0-3-0 Park team and the winless Hastings Raiders (0-6-0).
With Forest Lake needing overtime to defeat Hastings 3-2 on Dec. 8, Forsythe’s post-game comments sound appropriate.
“Saturday was a game where even though we came away with a nice OT win, we were left with plenty of things to work on,” he said. “The intensity level we need to have was absent for the first two periods. Game preparation is something we’ll need to address as a coaching staff and as a team.”
Photo by Todd Proulx
KYLE MORGAN swoops into action during Saturday's win over Hastings.
Just as Forsythe mentioned, there weren’t any goals being scored in the first period, and it was the Raiders who took a 1-0 lead late in the second, when Bob Speedling scored on a power play.
Right after the second intermission, Jake Kogler and Kyle Morgan hooked up for a Forest Lake goal that tied the game with only 13 seconds gone in the third period.
Forsythe felt that lifted the team, as the Rangers would eventually take the lead when Derek Harrison scored by tipping in a Tom Fick shot.
“That unit is capable of providing more offense, hopefully this is the start of that,” Forsythe said.
Speedling would lock the game up at 2-2, when he knocked in his second goal of the day with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.
At the 3:43 mark of overtime, Kyle Morgan did a nice job of setting up Kyle Young for the game-winner.
The law firm of Morgan, Young and Kogler was a crucial factor in Thursday’s 4-2 win over Park, as Young scored a pair of lickety-split, first-period goals. Matt Wethammer assisted on the first one, just 21 seconds into the game, and Morgan and Kogler were the set-up men for the second score.
“Thursday night we got a good effort from the team,” Forsythe said. “The first two periods we played the style of hockey this team needs to play to be successful. We finished our hits, shot the puck from everywhere, and were relentless on the back-check.”
In the early part of the second it was indeed more Forest Lake, with Team Kyle — Young, Morgan and Kyle Jensen — connecting on Jensen’s goal to make it 3-0, and then Kogler assisting Brad Ristow on a short handed goal with nine minutes left in the contest.
Park would make a late rally and get two shots past goalie Paul Moberg, who would only see a total of 15 on the night, but that’s as close as the Wolfpack would come.
“Despite a short lull in the effort towards the end of the second period, we came out in the third and did what we needed to do to win,” Forsythe shared.
The next opportunities to win should require a full 51 minutes of effort, with a trip to Woodbury (4-1-0) on Thursday, followed by a road game at No. 9 ranked Cretin-Derham Hall (2-2) on Saturday night.
FIRST LOSS
All good things came to an end on Thursday, Dec. 13, when Forest Lake lost to Woodbury, 6-1.
The Royals scored early in the first period, and then continued to add goals throughout the night.
The first one may have been preventable, but then Woodbury's Adam Kopp and Greg Alexander would fire in two shots that were absolute beauties that found the top corner. The Royals would take a 4-0 lead into the third period, and then close out the conference match-up with a 2-1 goal advantage over the game's final 17-minute session.
|
