Muskies split with Rams

The main man in black and white had Shane Bliss seeing red.
Referee Len Herken was not the Muskie boys’ hockey coach’s favourite Valentine after Fort High (17-4) officially fell out of the race for first place in NorWOSSA with a weekend split against the host Red Lake Rams (10-10).
“It’s not his fault we lost, but it’s his fault that Red Lake won,” said Bliss, who watched his team win 8-3 on Friday night but then lose 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
“He kept them in the game. That’s a long way to travel to get reffing like that. It was brutal,” he charged.
“He wouldn’t even let us high-five our bench after goals at one point Friday. We always do that,” Bliss added. “Red Lake could do it, but we were warned we’d get a penalty if we did it anymore.”
After getting six penalties in the third period Friday night, the black-and-gold stayed under Herken’s watchful eye early in Saturday’s contest as they were whistled for another half-dozen infractions in the first 20 minutes.
“One roughing penalty was deserved, but the trips and hooks he was calling, I don’t know what he was looking at,” fumed Bliss.
“I talked to the Red Lake coach [Mark Wilkins], whom I used to play on the Muskies with. He said [Herken] is usually this bad, but that usually it’s the Rams getting the short end of the stick.”
With the game tied 1-1 after two periods, Red Lake took the lead on a goal by Devin O’Donnel at 11:59 of the third.
Then with the Muskies buzzing for the equalizer, NorWOSSA leading score Steven Sus scored what looked to be the tying marker at the 13:40 mark.
But the goal was waved off by Herken, who then handed Sus a five-minute major for goalie interference, although Bliss claimed his player was cross-checked from behind into netminder Chris Tougas.
“Sus has, I think, four penalty minutes all year,” said Bliss. “Any five-minute penalty in this league is supposed to carry a game misconduct. But he didn’t kick Sus out. Nobody was hurt on the play.
“But now, instead of us tying it, we’re killing a penalty.”
Paul Weese and Gawley had the other Red Lake goals while Mike Niskala had the lone marker for the Muskies.
Nathan Miller, the centerpiece of the Muskies’ offence over the last several weeks, continued his fine play Friday night with a hat trick and an assist while linemate Sus added a goal and two helpers.
Kurtis Wepruk had his best night of the season with a two-goal effort while Scott Bridgeman and Kris Esselink added singles. Matt Gamsby turned aside 23 Red Lake shots to earn the win.
Breven Gawley, Dave Weese, and Dennis Marcellais supplied the offence for the Rams in that one.
The Muskies played without forwards Justin Larson (shoulder) and Cody Dittaro (knee), but hope to have both back in time for the playoffs.
The second-place Muskies (17-4) close out the regular season tomorrow night in Dryden in a preview of their best-of-three NorWOSSA semi-final showdown, which begins later this week.
The opener will be played here, although the exact date and time was not known as of press time today, while game two is set for Sunday afternoon in Dryden.
Game 3, if necessary, would be back here (the date and time also isn’t certain yet).
Red Lake will face the first-place Kenora Broncos in the other semi-final series.