Lucas Punkari
For the first time in its history, the Muskie girls’ hockey team can lay claim to being tops on the NorWOSSA circuit.
Following Sunday’s 5-1 win in Kenora, the black-and-gold hoisted the Northland Cup as league champs, taking the two-game, total-goal series over the host Broncos by a combined score of 6-1.
“It’s a historical moment,” Muskie head coach Scott Clendenning enthused.
“It’s also the start of a new wave of how the program is going to be moving forward, with a high level of play and commitment,” he added.
“When every player is responsible and working hard, that is when we are at our best.”
Having won the series-opener 1-0 last Wednesday night at the Ice For Kids Arena here, the second-seeded Muskies found themselves trailing by that same score in Sunday’s finale when Ainsley Lindquist beat Kate Parsons early in the game.
But the black-and-gold took control from that point on. Shelby Tymkin tied the game late in the first period, which led to Clare Sandelovich’s eventual game-winning goal in the second.
“Our plan going into the game was to come out at them hard,” Clendenning noted.
“After they got that first goal, we really started to get things rolling and we didn’t stop until the game was over,” he added.
“You have to give it up to the girls as they played at the level that they can play at, and that was nice to see.”
After Sandelovich’s goal, the Broncos were unable to get the momentum back as Hailey Clendenning, Amber Jourdain, and Katie Sinclair helped extend the Muskies’ lead.
“Fort Frances played an excellent game,” said Broncos’ head coach David Craven.
“They were strong in all areas of rink and they forced us to make some mistakes,” he remarked.
“When we made those mistakes, the Muskie girls capitalized on it.”
Sunday’s triumph was a stark contrast from the tightly-contested opener that took place here last Wednesday, when Sandelovich netted a short-handed goal in the third period to give the black-and-gold the narrow 1-0 win.
“It was a good game, and once again [goalie] Kate Parsons had a real solid game for us,” Scott Clendenning said.
“The girls battled hard to get the win, but it was a totally different type of game than how we played in Kenora,” he noted.
While Parsons made a number of key saves last Wednesday to keep the game tied during the first two periods, her biggest heroics came in the final minutes of regulation time as the Broncos tried to notch the equalizer.
“I got really nervous in those last two minutes because Kenora was applying a lot of pressure and trying really hard to get that tying goal,” the Grade 10 student admitted.
“But our defence did a really good job out there, and during the entire game we had a really positive vibe . . . that we just built off of.”
The 2012/13 season was an interesting one for the Muskies, who captured tournament titles in Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie and also competed at the Hockey Canada-sanctioned Female World Sport School Challenge in Winnipeg two weeks ago.
But the season was shortened by a month due to the teachers’ protest over Bill 115, which led to the Muskies being unable to compete at a tournament in Minneapolis over the Christmas holidays and also means they won’t compete at this month’s OFSAA championship.
“The girls went through a lot of adversity this year, especially with the political protests and so forth,” Clendenning noted.
“But as I told them, the biggest thing for me was the fact that they had stuck together and they kept their focus both academically and on the ice.
“You have to be proud of them for that,” he lauded.
While it’s still unclear yet how many Grade 12 players will be leaving the Muskie program, the majority of the roster is eligible to return next season to help the team defend its crown.
“As a coach, it’s kind of a gift to be only missing a couple of players,” Clendenning conceded.
“But again, we have to bring that level of play up another level, and part of that comes from getting the girls out of their comfort zone and stepping up,” he stressed.
“Hopefully, we can bring that once again next year.”
The official wrap on the girls’ season will come next month during the team’s annual awards banquet, with an exact date and location still to be determined.
