|
All it took for the boys hockey team to transform into a consistent, goal-scoring, defensive-minded unit, was two weeks and four games.
On Jan. 7, Forest Lake was coming off its fourth straight loss and clung to a 7-6 record. After whacking Park and Hastings last week, the Rangers are now in line to make a major move up the Suburban East Conference standings.
Head coach Aaron Forsythe’s crew was in Hastings last Saturday, and for the second game in a row, the boys ran up seven goals on their opponents in a 7-3 win.
The victory came after the Rangers spotted the Raiders a 2-0 lead in the opening period, as the Forest Lake offense wouldn’t warm up until the second session. And once they warmed up, they became downright hot, knocking in five shots in the second period alone.
BREAKAWAY: During Forest Lake’s shutout victory over Park, Kyle Jensen would open the third period by swooping in on this play for a goal to make it 4-0.
In what feels like a familiar occurrence, it was Jake Kogler who put the Rangers on the board, scoring at the 5:09 mark of the second, and then working with Adam Kettler four and half minutes later on a Derek Harrison goal.
Soon after, Kogler would make it 3-2, before a couple of Kyles (Morgan assisted by Young) would collect the game-winner.
After Morgan’s goal, the Rangers simply padded their lead, as Kogler and Sean Casey would assist on Harrison’s second goal of the period.
With nearly 11 minutes remaining in the contest, Harrison would collect his hat trick, after receiving yet another pass from Kogler.
Aided by Matt Wethammer, Tom Fick would make it 7-2 with less than four minutes to go in the game. Hastings would come up with a power play goal to close out the 7-3 Forest Lake victory.
Rangers 7, Park 0
Those seven goals were merely a repeat of Thursday’s effort, where the Rangers traveled to Park, and came away with a convincing 7-0 win.
The Wolfpack started out with plenty of energy and plenty of opportunities, but goaltender Paul Moberg was beginning to make their night a miserable one. Moberg would refuse 18 first-period attempts from entering, and by the second period, the Park fans sounded frustrated and their players looked baffled.
Moberg would end the night with 34 saves, while his counterpart, Josh Stewart, was more than occupied, seeing 43 shots. Stewart, though, was only able to stop 37.
Forest Lake (11-6, 7-4) was back on home ice on Tuesday, hosting Duluth East, and keeps playing at Maroon and Gold Arena throughout the weekend. No. 8 ranked Woodbury arrives on Thursday, and then Cretin-Derham Hall drives up on Saturday.
Box Score
Forest Lake 2 1 4 - 7
Park 0 0 0 - 0
First - 1, FL, Jensen (Harrison), 1:13 (sh). 2, FL, Harrison, 12:46 (pp).
Second - 3, FL, Capra (Morgan), 11:24 (pp).
Third - 4, FL, Jensen, 1:37 (pp). 5, FL, Kogler (Morgan), 11:01 (pp). 6, FL, Kogler (Harrison), 13:11. 7, FL, Hartshorn, 16:59.
Saves: FL, Moberg 18-7-9 - 34; Park, Stewart 9-15-13 - 37.
|