Shorthanded Jacks Lead But Can’t Hold Off Forest Lake

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Feb 15

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Cloquet-Esko-Carlton couldn’t make a two-goal lead hold up after one period and eventually lost 5-3 to Forest Lake on the road in boys hockey on Tuesday night.

Playing with a roster depleted due to flu, the Jacks performed well early in the game by staking themselves to the two-goal edge in the first period. Beau Michaud gave CEC a 1-0 lead on the power play with Mark Savage and Adam Hanson assisting. At 16:08 Nolan Meyer picked up his team-leading 32nd goal of the season for the Jacks with Jack McFarlane assisting and CEC led it 2-0 after two periods.

The Rangers didn’t waste much time bouncing back into the game in the second period when they scored just 1:23 into the period on the power play. Meyer went to the box for an interference penalty at 1:13 and just 10 seconds later it was Lucas Kohls scoring pulling FL to within 2-1. Forest Lake tied the game at 14:04 on a Tommy Tyson goal and the game was 2-2 entering the third period.

Just 36 seconds into the third period McFarlane scored on an assist from Karson Kuhlman and the Jacks held a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately for CEC the Rangers stormed back with three straight goals. At 4:02 it was CJ Franklin scoring, at 6:48 it was Franklin again on a power play and finally it was Franklin completing the pure hat trick with an empty net goal at 16:13.

The Jacks tossed 35-shots on Ranger goalie Paige Skoog, while John Scheuer faced 32 shots for CEC.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com