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White Bear Lake erases early deficit, edges Forest Lake

By Trevor Squire, SportsEngine, 12/12/17, 12:15PM CST

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Sydney Shearen scored both goals for the Bears.

Junior forward Sydney Shearen, a Gopher recruit, lets one go from inside the hash marks for her first of two goals in the game for White Bear Lake. The Bears held on for a 2-1 win over the Rangers at Vadnais Sports Center. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEng

Junior forward Sydney Shearen, a Gopher recruit, lets one go from inside the hash marks for her first of two goals in the game for White Bear Lake. The Bears held on for a 2-1 win over the Rangers at Vadnais Sports Center. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEng

White Bear Lake goaltender Calla Frank has been a pest to Forest Lake since she was an eighth-grader when she stopped 22 of 23 shots to help the Bears clinch a single-goal victory.

After turning 17 on Monday, not much has changed for Frank.

The Minnesota State prospect made 35 saves, while childhood friend Sydney Shearen scored twice to deal the Rangers their first loss of the season in a 2-1 decision Tuesday night. Ranked No. 11 in the Class 2A coaches’ poll, White Bear Lake (9-1-1, 5-0-0) extended its winning streak to nine games with the win.

Frank has now stopped 185 of 195 shots she’s faced against the Rangers in her career. After allowing a goal on the ninth shot she faced late in the first period, Frank bounced back and stopped 27 straight shots to stun No. 6-2A Forest Lake (5-1-2, 5-1-0).

Brieja Parent scored the game’s opening goal for the Rangers off a rebound while there was a scrum in front of the net. Bears coach Jerry Kwapick said that despite a pile of players in her path, Frank makes no excuses.

“She’ll take ownership. That’s her net,” Kwapick said. “She’s a very competitive young lady. You can see that look in her and she’s determined to not let another go in. She pushes herself really really hard.”

Forest Lake had its own high-end talent between the pipes in sophomore Josie Bothun, a Penn State recruit who stopped 24 of 26 shots. The two goaltenders’ stalwart efforts created frustration for the skaters on both sides.

There’s no love lost between the teams,” Forest Lake coach Andy Richardson said. “It was a real physical game with two of the best goaltenders in the state.”

Fresh off the Bears’ first section final appearance this decade, the junior duo of Frank and Shearen became the first players from White Bear Lake to make a Team USA Under-18 roster this past summer. Coached by Frank’s father through their youth years, Shearen and Frank continue to test each other every day in practice.

“She really challenges me because she knows all of my moves and gives me pointers,” Shearen said of Frank. “Every single moment we’re out there together it’s really fun.”

Shearen, a Gopher recruit, credited Frank for her first goal, which tied the game with a minute, 35 seconds left in the middle period. Shearen skated the puck through the neutral zone and fired a wrist shot that stretched the top right corner of the net and rode the back pipe around the back of the net. 

Her game-winner didn’t have the same aesthetic as she fired a shot on net with Bothun out-of-position. The shot bounced off a defender's stick and into the net a minute into the final period.

Frank, playing with a lead, made several sprawling saves as the Bears' backstop and shut out an aggressive Rangers attack in the final period.

Kwapick coached Bothun’s siblings and credited the Rangers goalie who transfered from White Bear Lake to Forest Lake in seventh grade.

The Rangers ran three lines through the entire game which kept the Bears from putting the game away.

“There’s so much parity in this league,” Kwapick said. “You clearly can’t take a night off in this conference.”

Shearen and Frank will be back on Team USA Jan. 6-13 when they’ll play in the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Moscow.

The Bears will be shorthanded when they face No. 4-2A Hill-Murray in a rematch of last year’s Class 2A, Section 4 final, but Frank sees the experience as a chance for her and Shearen to progess overseas and their team to grow at home.

“We gained a bunch of experience playing at the highest level of women’s hockey and we’re just going to benefit from it when we come back to high school,” Frank said.

Junior goaltender Calla Frank (33) keeps her eye on the puck as it moves out of the crease. Frank stopped 35 of 36 shots helping White Bear Lake defeat sixth-ranked Forest Lake by a score of 2-1. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine

Junior goaltender Calla Frank (33) keeps her eye on the puck as it moves out of the crease. Frank stopped 35 of 36 shots helping White Bear Lake defeat sixth-ranked Forest Lake by a score of 2-1. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine

First Report

Syndey Shearen netted two goals, including the game-winner a minute into the third period as White Bear Lake held on its their ninth straight victory in a 2-1 decision over Forest Lake at Vadnais Sports Center.

Ranked No. 11 in the Class 2A coaches' poll, the Bears (9-1-1, 5-0-0) dealt the Rangers their first loss of the season behind a 35-save night by Minnesota State recruit Calla Frank.

The No. 6-2A Rangers’ Brieja Parent broke the game open late in the first period after capitalizing on a rebound to the right of Frank.

Shearen, a Minnesota recruit, leveled the score with under two minutes left in the middle period, shelving a shot top right past Forest Lake (5-1-2, 5-1-0) goaltender Josie Bothun, who's committed to Penn State. Shearen scored the go-ahead goal off a defender’s stick.

Bothun stopped 24 of 26 shots for the Rangers.


Brieja Parent (5) lines up her shot on net midway through the second period. Parent scored first for the Rangers but it would prove to be their only goal of the night. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine

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