MLA Boys Comeback Comes Up Just Short

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 23

Wes Vork-NSO

LINDSTROM, MN – After a disastrous first period in their Section 5A boys hockey game against North Branch Tuesday night, the Moose Lake Area Rebels rebounded to play well the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the Rebels comeback ended up a wee bit short in a 6-4 loss, eliminating them from the tournament.

“We made some defensive adjustments and that helped,” commented MLA coach Sherm Liimatainen following the game to NSO. “We took away the middle so most of their shots came from angles and weren’t clean shots.”

The defensive changes seemed to work, but by the end of the first period the Rebels were already scrapping just to stay in the game as they trailed 5-2.

“Three of those goals were a result of us not being able to clear the puck,” explained Liimatainen. “We did a better job of clearing in the second and third periods and our goalie was phenomenal.”

MLA opened the scoring in the wild first period when Michael Unzen tallied a marker just 1:17 into the game. However, North Branch scored five of the next six goals with Unzen scoring the only other goal of the period for MLA at 15:11 as the Rebels trailed it 5-2 after one period.

Spencer Clough scored a shorthanded goal for MLA at 11:45 of the second period with Ville Mattala and Unzen assisting. The Rebels had crawled to within 5-3 after the second period.

Just 3:02 into the third period, the Rebels made it 5-4 when Josh Cisar scored and it was game-on from that point forward with each team getting chances. Finally, with just 47 seconds remaining in regulation, North Branch got an empty net goal from Gavin Runberg that put the game away and sent the Vikings to the next round.

The Rebels didn’t go down without a fight, tossing 49 shots on Viking goaltender Hunter Miska, who made 45 saves. Meanwhile, Austin Lanoue was equally busy after stopping 39 of 44 Viking shots with one empty net goal.

“I have to compliment our three freshman defensemen,” said Liimatainen. “As a coach you ask your players to give us your best and they did that. With this group of kids who are now seniors we went 49-25 over the last three years. I am very proud of them and they gave everything they had.”

The best season in program history for Moose Lake Area comes to an end with the 6-4 loss. The Rebels finished with an 18-8-0 record in a season where they averaged 5.40 goals per game and won the inaugural champions of the Two Rivers Conference. Limatainen was also voted the Two Rivers Conference Coach of the Year.

With the win, North Branch moves on to face the #1 seed Hermantown Hawks in Hermantown on Thursday. North Branch head coach Randy Gendreau is aware of the task ahead of his squad, telling NSO after the game, “It’s going to take the perfect storm to beat Hermantown. We have not focused a lot on them because we knew Moose Lake would be tough and we needed to work on getting past this game first.” However, Gendreau wasn’t conceding anything either, commenting, “We know they are a big, strong and talented hockey club, but we are tenacious and have good team speed. We will just take it one period, one shift at a time and see what happens.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com