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Forest Lake Times
Sports Briefs - Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024
The Forest Lake boys basketball team picked up a 64-57 Suburban East Conference win over Mounds View on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Later that week on Friday, Feb. 16, the Rangers snagged their third win in a row after beating Irondale by a final score of 75-49. The boys’ next matchup took place on Wednesday, Feb. 21, against East Ridge in a contest that was not yet completed by press time. Girls basketball The Forest Lake girls basketball team earned its third- and fourth-straight wins in the previous week by beating both Mounds View and Irondale on Tuesday, Feb. 13, and Friday, Feb. 16, respectively. The girls’ final regular season showdown took place after press time on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at East Ridge.
Ranger dancers improve on state floor
Forest Lake dance team’s jazz routine came in last at state, but saw score improvement In front of a crowd of thousands at the Target Center, the Forest Lake dancers showcased their Section 3AAA runner-up jazz routine to “Got It In You” by Banners during the state dance tournament on Friday, Feb. 16. But despite the large venue, the team just felt the presence of each other. “[What] we really...
Gymnastics clinches state berth
Four individuals also to compete at state The Forest Lake gymnastics team entered the 2023-24 season with hopes and expectations of staying healthy and taking the necessary steps toward making a competitive run for the Section 7AA championship. After finishing fourth in both the Suburban East Conference and in the section tournament a season ago, the Rangers captured the section championship, qualifying as a team for the state gymnastics meet for the first time since 2021, as well as sending four gymnasts to the individual...
FL wrestling team to return to Xcel
Rangers win Section 7AAA title, qualify as a team for state The Forest Lake wrestling team punched its ticket back to the Minnesota state wrestling tournament for the first time since 2020 by claiming the Section 7AAA championship last Friday, Feb. 16, at Elk River High School. The Rangers had a monumental night, winning all three of its matches and upsetting No. 1-seeded Anoka along the way to initiate the squad’s return to the Xcel Energy Center. ...
Gammelgarden’s new leadership to continue connecting with visitors
Longtime director Lynne Moratzka retires At the start of 2024, Scandia resident Ann Rinkenberger took over as Gammelgarden Museum of Scandia’s new director following Lynne Moratzka’s decades-long tenure. “I’m happy that I get to both live and work in the same community,” Rinkenberger said. After operating for more than 50 years, the team was shocked...
Wildlife Science Center hosts Mexican wolves
The Wildlife Science Center located in Linwood is staying busy hosting Mexican gray wolves for research and education. What were once declared ecologically extinct in 1979, Mexican gray wolves are now slowly increasing in population. Over 40 years ago, only seven were left in the entire world. Now, there are about 245 throughout Arizona and New Mexico, the wolves’ native land. The Wildlife Science Center, home to the largest population...
Winter event organizers forced to adapt or cancel events
Weather blows winter plunge ashore, while Linwood’s ice bocce canceled Last year, The Forest Lake Rotary Club’s annual Winter Plunge event barely made it out on the ice for the thrilling and chilly fundraising event. It was the incredible amount of snow insulating the ice, making ice conditions tenuous until just the week before the plunge. This year, the extraordinarily warm winter will force the transition of the event, set...
FL Alpine ski team sends three to state
LILA seventh-grader also qualifies The Forest Lake Alpine ski team has had a stellar season up to this point in the year – and they proved it on Tuesday, Feb. 6, as the Rangers qualified three individuals to the 2024 state Alpine ski tournament. The final meet of the season was scheduled to be held in familiar territory on Tuesday, Feb. 13, back at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minnesota –...
Girls Nordic competes to state
The Rangers girls Nordic team punched another ticket to the state tournament by placing second overall as a team at the Section 7 tournament held at Battle Creek Regional Park on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Led by junior Norah Hushagen in second place, Chloe Erickson in seventh place and Madeleine Bonnett in eighth, the trio scored crucial points for the Rangers in the pursuit, resulting in Elsa Swenson and Clara Zak taking fourth overall in the relay, cementing the second-place state bid with 376 points, with...
FL boys basketball goes 1-1 on the week
The Forest Lake boys basketball team saw an action-packed week filled with close and exciting section and Suburban East Conference matchups. The Rangers hosted a tight battle with the Andover Huskies on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and ultimately lost by a final score of 67-66 in a game that wasn’t decided until the final buzzer. Forest Lake entered the game on a hot five-game win streak. In a back-and-forth bout, the game began with a 5-1 Andover run before Forest Lake knotted things back up at...
Sports Briefs - Feb. 15, 2024
The Forest Lake boys hockey team dropped a matchup 4-2 to one of its Suburban East Conference rivals in Stillwater on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Rangers senior Gunnar Bright scored to open up the second period, and senior Caden Speidel knocked in the final goal for Forest Lake in the home loss. That weekend, on Saturday, Feb. 10, the Rangers bounced back with a 5-1 road win against the Mounds View...
Sports Briefs - Thursday, Feb. 8
The Ranger girls hockey team stomped Duluth 8-2 in their final game of the year on Feb. 1. As the regular season ends, the girls prepared for the first round of the Section 7AA tournament at No. 4 seeded Anoka on Thursday, Feb. 8. With a win, the squad will advance to the Section 7AA semifinals to play the winner of a first-round matchup between No. 1-Andover or No. 8-Duluth. ...
Girls basketball drops pair of conference showdowns
The Forest Lake girls basketball team entered its home contest versus White Bear Lake on Tuesday, Jan. 30, on a hot five-game winning streak – with those big wins coming against Suburban East Conference opponents Irondale, East Ridge, Park of Cottage Grove, Cretin-Derham Hall and Roseville over the span of 14 days. However, the Rangers’ bid for six straight wins fell short when Forest Lake lost to the Bears by a final score of 69-43. White Bear Lake, one of the current favored teams to...
Boys hockey wins third straight, moving to 8-12-1 on the season
Following a 6-5 win over the co-op trio of Cloquet/Esko/Carlton on Tuesday, Jan. 30, the Forest Lake boys hockey team remained in the win column by picking up an impressive 7-1 win on Senior Nightagainst East Ridge at home on Thursday, Feb. 1. The Rangers had six different players record a goal in the matchup versus the Raptors as the offense put on one of their best performances of the season. Head coach Jay Ekman noted that it was a result of the lineup “finally gathering valuable chemistry with one another.” ...
Dance Team statebound for first time since 2015
In 2014, Rachel Kilpela – then a junior on the Forest Lake dance team – knew the team had a shot at placing within the top three teams to punch the team’s ticket to state – the first time in the dance team’s history. She heard third place called. It wasn’t Forest Lake. She remembers feeling a little deflated, but also thinking “Ok, I mean, it’s still possible.” Ten years removed from that moment, Kilpela – the Rangers dance team head coach – and the...
New retail building by Northern Tool gets green light from planning commission
Five Below discount store likely to fill new space Forest Lake will likely soon get discount store Five Below if the council approves a planned expansion to the Westlake Center, the shopping plaza that currently holds Aldi, Michaels, Northern Tool, and PetSmart. The expansion will actually be a separate building directly to the north of the current plaza, just south of the future Mr. Car Wash between Speedway and Huntington Bank. Current design plans show the new shopping area will take over the green space...
Local author’s book turned movie begins filming
‘Unholy Communion’ stars Minnesotans Adam Bartley and Vincent Kartheiser The first time local author Thomas Rumreich was on the set of the film based on his book “Unholy Communion,” he teared up. The book, which Rumreich wrote from 2015 until its 2020 publication through Beaver’s Pond Press in St. Paul, was a form of catharsis after decades of healing from sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the 1960s. After the book’s early success, local filmmaker Patrick Coyle got involved as a producer and screenwriter...
‘Spare’ and an unusual nonfiction pick top library’s 2023 checkouts
When the Hardwood Creek Library team began reviewing 2023 top checkouts of inventory, many of the librarians speculated that “Spare,” Prince Harry’s memoir, would be at the top of the nonfiction list. “They’re racking their brain about ‘Was it “Spare” by Prince Harry?’ No, it was the Minnesota Driver’s Manual,” laughed Eric Nelsen, Hardwood Creek senior library manager, though “Spare” did earned the second top book of 2023, so the library team wasn’t too far off on their estimates. ...
Emmer targeted in swatting incident
U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer reported that his home was targeted in a “swatting” incident on Saturday night. According to a statement from the Sixth District Republican congressman on X (Twitter), no one was harmed during the Jan. 27 incident at his residence in Wright County. “Sadly, this illegal and dangerous scheme is being used nationwide to target elected officials. Thankfully, no one was home or injured,” Emmer wrote in the...
FL boys swim and dive team falls to MV, Park
The Forest Lake boys swim and dive team had a busy week filled with Suburban East Conference competition as the Rangers squared off in a pair of meets with Mounds View on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and Park of Cottage Grove two days later on Thursday, Jan. 25. To begin the matchup, the boys prepared for the 200-yard medley relay event. The first group of Rangers in seniors Sam Trocke and Beau Brady, junior Eric Gregoire and sophomore Thatcher Robertson all put together a cumulative finals...
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Forest Lake Times has been serving Forest Lake, MN since 1902. Published Thursdays by APG of East Central Minnesota with 24/7 local coverage found online at forestlaketimes.com
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