By Anderson Prater
The Lady Rebels Hockey season wrapped up Friday, February 8th with a playoff loss to the Proctor Hermantown Mirage. The Mirage played a fast-paced game and managed to get 62 shots on goal. Rebel goalie Jo Wekseth saved ninety percent of the shots but when the game ended the Mirage were up 5-0. The Rebels finished their season with a record of 2-21-1, their victories coming over North Shore and Superior. Before the puck dropped in their first game of the season, the Moose Lake Area girls were already without their leading scorer from the previous season. Jamie Benzie, a junior from Moose Lake, tore her ACL in a volleyball game leaving her out for the entire hockey season. Even without their best forward, the Rebels took down the North Shore Storm 6-5 in their home opener. Senior Defender Abby Painovich had a hat trick including the game-winning goal during the final minutes of the game. The season was off to a strong start but it was quickly derailed when starting defender Chloe Gamst tore her Meniscus, The Lady Rebels were down two starters for the rest of the season. By the Middle of the season, they had lost two more players. Missing four players the remaining girls had to play a lot of extra shifts. The Lady Rebels played a bunch of games close during the first two periods and then fell behind in the third when they ran out of gas. It was a theme for the season, the girls had the skill to play with most of their competition but not enough skaters. Some other season highlights include an overtime victory over the Superior Spartans in early December, and then coming from behind to force an overtime tie in the second matchup with the Spartans in January. The Rebels also managed to take state ranked Cambridge-Isanti/Mora/Pine City to overtime and then did the same with 5th ranked Proctor-Hermantown. Although Lady Rebels struggled to fill up the win column this year much of their struggles can be attributed to the lack of skaters and injuries. Senior defender Abigail Painovich said, "Our record does not reflect the growth we saw as a team this season." The Rebels do have some silver linings to look forward to next year They are only graduating three seniors so their most of their young core will come next year with varsity experience under their belts, not to mention their leading scorer Gabby Gamst is only a freshman so she has many more years to go. Another exciting moment for the team, although she won't be returning next year, Hinckley-Finlayson senior Abigail Painovich will be going on to play division three hockey at the University of Saint Marys Minnesota. Even though the season did not go as the team had hoped, it laid the groundwork for success for in the seasons to come.
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