Moose Lake Area Rebels look to the future

The Moose Lake Area boys hockey team had the tall task of opening the Section 7A hockey tournament on the road at International Falls Saturday. The No. 7 seeded Broncos wasted little time scoring three first-period goals on their way to an 11-1 win over the No. 10 seeded Rebels.

“It is a tough place to play,” said Rebels coach Chris Gamst. “We originally thought we’d be playing North Shore, and then at the last minute we had to travel to International Falls.”

Earlier in the season, the Rebels lost to the Broncos 4-0 on Jan. 21, and on Saturday afternoon International Falls started strong and never stopped. The second period saw the Broncos score six more, with Everett Gamst scoring the lone Rebels goal in the period, to make it 9-1 after two periods.

“The Falls has a good class of seniors,” said Gamst. “We knew we needed to play our best to have a chance, and it just didn’t work out.”

Gamst is in his first year as the head coach of the Rebels and is looking to the future for the program.

“We are working on a complete culture change,” said Gamst. “By design we are focusing mostly on skills, passing and skating. We need to get better at those things if we want to be able to continue to get better.”

The Rebels will lose five seniors this season, including Gavin Mlaskoch and Everett Gamst. Mlaskoch was the team’s leading scorer and Gamst played the season with an ACL tear in his knee. Junior Jordan Bird, a defender, was also singled out as a team leader this season.

The Rebels ended the season with a final record of 5-19.

“I think we are on track and heading in the right direction for the future,” said coach Gamst. “We had a three-game win streak early in the season. Then we had some injuries and lost a few kids who decided not to play, but we have a real good sophomore class which got a lot of ice time. That will pay off down the line.”