Muskie girls win consolation title

It was a tale of two cities, two teams, two tournaments, and two very different results.
The Muskie girls’ hockey team came away from the Schwan Cup tournament in Minneapolis with its best-ever showing—the consolation crown—after winning two of three games there.
Meanwhile in Duluth, the Muskie boys’ hockey team returned to the Marshall Hilltopper Classic tournament as the defending consolation champs but dropped all three of its games despite a valiant effort.
The Muskie girls, playing in the “Yellow” pool at the 72-team Schwan Cup, opened play with a 3-2 victory over St. Bernard’s on goals by Katie McTavish, Courtney Caldwell, and Rebecca Witherspoon.
The black-and-gold then were blanked 5-0 in the ‘A’ side semi-finals by St. Francis, which went on to capture the “Yellow” crown while outscoring their opponents 16-1.
But the Muskies would not be denied in the bronze-medal game, beating the Long Prairie Grey Eagles by a 4-1 margin to wind up third overall in their eight-team pool.
(The goal scorers were not available by press time today).
The boys had opened play Monday night against East Grand Forks, outshooting the Green Wave 32-25 but dropping a 3-0 decision.
Tuesday afternoon’s consolation semi-final against New Ulm saw the Muskies again outshoot their opponents (this time by a 27-19 margin) but they came out on the short end of a 4-3 score.
Mitchell Green, Justin Larson, and Brian White had the Muskie markers.
Then playing Wednesday morning in the seventh-place game, the black-and-gold met a familiar foe from Hudson, Wis.—a team the Muskies had beaten 6-5 in the consolation final last year.
This year’s outcome was decidedly different as Hudson won 3-1 in a penalty-filled affair.
The Muskies outshot their opponents yet again (20-15) but again to no avail. Brock Benjamin netted their lone goal five minutes into the first period, assisted by Josh Sigurdson.
Both Muskie hockey teams will resume NorWOSSA next Tuesday (Jan. 4) when the Dryden Eagles come to town.
The boys will play at 7:15 in the Ice for Kids Arena while the girls drop the puck at 7:30 p.m. in the ’52 Canadians Arena.
The boys currently sit in second place—one game behind the league-leading Eagles—while the girls are in third, having lost 4-3 and 4-2 decisions to Dryden earlier this season.