MLA Boys Come Up Short Against Central

Click Here For Complete Game Stats

Feb 4

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Duluth Central rallied for five second period goals and then hung on for a 7-5 victory over the Moose Lake Area Rebels on Thursday night. The Trojans relied on a huge power play advantage to take the win at Mars Lakeview Arena, in a game that last year saw the Rebels win at the Heritage Center in Duluth.

After Central had taken a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Rebels tied the score on a goal by Michael Unzen with assists to Ville Mattala and Chris Gassert at 10:49. That’s how things would stand after a period of play. Both goals in the first period were scored on the power play.

In the second period, the Trojans scored three straight goals at 2:46, 4:17 and 7:16 to build a 4-1 lead. The Rebels then responded with back-to-back goals by Zach Cisar and Rejean Carlson at 7:36 and 10:09 respectively. Cisar’s goal was assisted by Tyler Cisar and Carlson’s was assisted by Unzen and Andrew Norby. However, before the period closed, the Trojans had notched two more goals to move ahead 6-3.

MLA tried to get back into the game in the third period with goals by Chris Gassert and Mattala at 1:01 and 3:15, trailing just 6-5. Yet, Central’s Nick Levigne ended the scoring with a goal at 11:16 of the final period.

The game was a penalty filled affair with the Trojans going 4-for-10 on the power play and the Rebels going 2-for-7 with the man advantage. In all, the Rebels picked up 50 minutes in penalties, while the Trojans picked up 34 minutes in penalties. There were a total of 30 penalties called in the game between the two teams, including a 10 minute misconduct and a 10 minute match penalty called on the Rebels assistant coach.

For the game, the Rebels outshot the Trojans 37-33 despite the big disadvantage in penalty minutes and three less power play chances.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com