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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
Three days after Forest Lake lost to the defending state champion and No. 1 ranked Stillwater Ponies, the girls hockey team hosted Cretin-Derham Hall on Dec. 18, with a strong notion of ending its five-game winless streak.
The Rangers hadn’t been on the left side of the Win-Loss column since they defeated Mounds View 3-2 at Maroon & Gold Arena. That was only three weeks prior to the Raiders making the trek north, but in high school athletics, that translates into 25 percent of the season.
After the 5-3 thumping of Cretin, perhaps head coach Heidi Link and her squad will tear off another chunk of victories, like they did to start the year.
“The win last night sent the message to the girls that we are back on track,” Link noted on an e-mail a day after the triumph.
“We still have plenty of things to work on as we continue through the season, but it was nice to get out of our slump and back to winning; some of the girls needed the reminder of what that felt like.”
 In the opening period, one noticeable difference was the fact that Forest Lake goalie Kim Fredrick was able to block all six shots, while her counterpart at the other end of the ice was having a rough outing.
At the 4:25 mark of the first, the Rangers’ Charise Kendrick set up Ashley Grell for a shorthanded goal, which sent Forest Lake on its way to a commanding lead.
RETURN TO FORM: With a 5-3 victory over Cretin-Derham Hall on Dec. 18, Miranda Nelson (5) and the Forest Lake girls hockey team hoped to keep on winning when they played at the Schwan Cup Tournament.
A few minutes after Grell scored, Torri Shelafoe used an assist from Miranda Nelson to make it 2-0. Shelafoe then worked with Kelsey Blum late in the period to give the Rangers a 3-0 advantage, after Blum put it past Cretin’s Kelsey Scott.
While the Raiders tried a new goaltender in the second, Shelafoe continued to get her name in the box score, as she scored again with more than 12 minutes remaining in the period.
With Fredrick turning back 11 Cretin attempts, Forest Lake went into the second break with a four-goal cushion.
And that would get tested in the third. The Raiders scored twice in the first two minutes, as the game turned more physical.
Whatever positive vibes Cretin may have had, they were quickly wiped away when Audrey Hanmer swooped into the offensive zone during a Ranger power play, and let one fly near the blue line.
Amelia Knudson — who had replaced the struggling Scott in front of the Cretin-Derham Hall goal — had the puck float under her right elbow and Forest Lake was up 5-2.
“It was nice to have the girls come out strong and play their game,” Link shared. “When the team came out flat in the third, their eagerness to get back the points (they had) lost showed the girls’ commitment to making sure that we would end the game right, and that we would not let the game slip away.”
The penalty minutes began to add up for both teams, when Cretin’s Michelle Fischer would score on a power play to close out the scoring, bringing the game to its 5-3 final.
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