The Muskie boys’ hockey team rolled over the host Red Lake Rams to open the NorWOSSA season over the weekend, taking a pair of games by 5-0 and 10-1 scores.
“It went quite well,” head coach Shane Bliss said. “We didn’t play solid all the way throughout, but . . . I think overall, the offence and defence both played well.”
Bliss insisted neither game was quite as lopsided as the final scores made out.
The first game Friday night saw the Muskies leading by a meagre 2-0 with eight minutes left in the third.
Then the black-and-gold led by only 1-0 halfway through the game Saturday before erupting for five goals in a three-and-a-half minute flurry.
“I don’t know what happened,” Bliss admitted. “That folded up Red Lake’s sprits a bit, I think.”
David Moen started both games in goal for the Muskies. While Bliss said his team easily outshot the Rams, his work in net was “solid.”
“Moen had some big saves to keep them off the board,” he added.
While the scores were nothing to sneeze at, Bliss admitted there’s still work to be done.
He was happier with the team’s discipline this past weekend as opposed to earlier pre-season games, but said the team needs to work on maintaining control of the puck.
“We need to work on giveaways. It’s so costly to give your puck away on your own blueline,” he stressed, adding the team made “some really errant passes up the middle that we were getting picked off.”
The Muskies play their first home game tomorrow when they host the Kenora Broncos at 6:45 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
