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Forest Lake trapped in Loss-ville |
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Wednesday, 06 February 2008 |
Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
Not so long ago, the boys hockey team was skating through a four-game winning streak, and Forest Lake was entering key matchups against Duluth East, Woodbury and Cretin-Derham Hall.
A 1-2 record against those three squads started a skid where the Rangers have now lost four of their last five games, and the team is suddenly staring at its final three contests of the regular season.
In last week’s action, Forest Lake was faced with the challenge of stopping two ranked programs, in White Bear Lake and Roseville, but would end up on the small end of 5-2 and 3-2 decisions.
On Saturday, Feb. 2, the Rangers were able to take a 2-1 lead into the third period, but Roseville would use two power play goals at the end of the night to win 3-2 in overtime.
With Forest Lake down 1-0 in the opening period, Derek Harrison connected with Kyle Young at the 7:38 mark to tie the game.
In the second period, the Rangers would take their only lead, when Chaz Hartshorn and Jake Kogler picked up the assists on a Tom Fick goal.That 2-1 score happened with more than 11 minutes to go in the period, and it would stand well into the third.
Working on a power play with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation, Roseville’s Bobby Monsour tied it up at 2-2.
Overtime was only 63 seconds old, when the Raiders’ Paul Dettling knocked in the game-winner to give No. 19 ranked Roseville the victory.
Forest Lake’s Paul Moberg would make 39 saves on the night, while Ben Podobinski turned away 26 shots by the Rangers.
Prior to Roseville’s visit, the boys were in White Bear Lake on Jan. 29, with hopes of improving upon their ugly 10-0 loss in December.
It was indeed a better showing for the Rangers, but they were still given a 5-2 defeat against the 14th-ranked Bears.
White Bear was up 2-0 after one period, and 3-0 after the second. Forest Lake (12-10, 8-7) would get its two goals in the third, but the Bears went ahead and tacked on two more of their own.
Ranger goals went to Kogler and Harrison, with assists coming from Harrison, Sam Pfenning and Young.
White Bear’s Tim Abramhamson saw only 12 shots on the night, while Moberg stopped 24 of 29 attempts.
Johnson High School of St. Paul is next on the schedule, and they will be at Maroon and Gold Arena on Saturday night.
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