Lucas Punkari
Although they aren’t sure when they’ll be back on the ice, the Muskie boys’ hockey team is entering an unscheduled break with the best record in NorWOSSA play.
After edging the host Dryden Eagles 4-3 last Thursday, the black-and-gold sport a 5-0 record to lead the league, which is on hiatus for the rest of December as a result of the latest work-to-rule edict from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) that took effect Monday.
“It’s nice to be heading into the break with as many points as we have,” said forward Dylan Curtis.
“We left everything that we had out there on the ice in our last couple of games and now that we have a bit of a break, we will have a chance to rest up any injuries that we have,” he reasoned.
The Muskies were supposed to have travelled to Red Lake on Sunday, then visited Kenora to play the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints on Monday, but both of those games were cancelled.
An exhibition contest against Kittson here this coming Friday, which would have been Fort High’s last game before Christmas, also was wiped off the schedule.
In Thursday’s win over the Eagles, Nick Kaun, Nolan Vold, Braden Webb, and Curtis each found the back of the net to help the Muskies earn another league win—and extend an unbeaten streak in league play that has lasted a full calendar year.
Fort High’s last setback in a NorWOSSA game took place on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 (a 5-4 shootout loss to the Kenora Broncos).
Prior to their visit to Dryden, the Muskies hosted the Broncos at the Ice For Kids Arena last Tuesday night, where they turned in a strong performance en route to a 4-1 victory.
“We moved the puck a little bit better and we missed a few less passes than we have recently,” head coach Shawn Jourdain noted afterwards.
“Overall, though, it was very similar to how we played in our game here [against St. Thomas Aquinas] last week,” he added.
The improvement when it came to the team’s puck movement was noted by forward Tyler Mosbeck, who said that difference in their play from the start of the season has been massive.
“Our passing was a little bit brutal at the beginning of the year,” he admitted.
“We’ve been working on it a little bit in practice and it has been getting better, and we’ve been getting more shots on goal as a result,” Mosbeck added.
Leading the way offensively against the Broncos was Curtis, who netted a pair of goals in a 22-second span during the first period that gave his team a lead they would never relinquish.
“It was a pretty good feeling,” Curtis said.
“We were able to take that two-goal lead and carry that over into the second and the third period, so that was a huge difference for us,” he stressed.
“Dylan’s a good hockey player,” Jourdain lauded.
“He uses his body well when he’s down low, and that is how he got his two chances in this game,” he remarked.
Webb and Mosbeck also scored for the Muskies while Broncos’ forward Adam Vaughn stymied Jonah Johnson’s shutout bid late in the third period.
