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Rangers denied in boys hockey action
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Wednesday, 19 December 2007
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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
Heading down to face Woodbury on Dec. 13 already had the makings of a tough match-up for the boys hockey team. And when Forest Lake got behind 1-0 with just two minutes gone in the opening period, there was a sense it was going to be a long night for the Rangers.
Head coach Aaron Forsythe’s squad was able to slog through the slow start, but after the first intermission, the Royals put on a brief shooting exhibition and eventually won, 6-1.
Woodbury’s Adam Kopp would score the game’s second goal on a beautiful shot that went to the top shelf, sailing above goalie Paul Moberg’s glove. The Royals would take a 3-0 lead when Greg Alexander copied Kopp, and placed another shot up where Mama keeps the peanut butter.
The two goals may have been virtually impossible to stop, but Forsythe wasn’t happy to see the Royals even have those opportunities.
“Against Woodbury we were simply outworked. If we’re going to be successful it will be through hard work,” he said. “The lack of it finally caught up to us. Woodbury has a very good team; it was a lesson that had to be learned.”
With a 4-0 lead to begin the third period, Woodbury (6-1-0) would withstand a Forest Lake goal by Jake Kogler, and give the Rangers their first loss of the winter.
Their second set-back would come two days later, when the team traveled to Cretin-Derham Hall. But unlike the Woodbury defeat, Forsythe liked how his team competed in a 3-0 final.
“Saturday against Cretin (4-2-0) was a completely different story. We came out working hard and didn’t stop,” he said. “Although we’ll never be happy with a loss, it was good to see the kids play three good periods.”
The Raiders first goal came after a Forest Lake turnover, which proved to be costly, as Ryan Bohrer would score with only 45 seconds remaining in the opening period. When Cretin made it 2-0 off a deflection by the appropriately named Dan Tipping, the breaks were starting to stack up in the Raiders’ favor.
It wouldn’t become 3-0 until Cretin-Derham Hall added its final goal on an empty net.
“It was a tough loss because we played well enough to win,” Forsythe said. “We hit several posts and managed to miss a hand full of wide open nets. The game literally could have gone either way with a few different bounces.”
Forest Lake will attempt to rediscover the win column when they host No. 8 ranked White Bear Lake on Thursday night, and then entertain Stillwater on Saturday, Dec. 22.
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