Joey Payeur
Cole Tymkin may be the youngest player on the Muskie boys’ hockey team but he certainly hasn’t played like it so far.
The lone Grade 9 donning the black-and-gold this season looked like a seasoned veteran Tuesday night, scoring the game-winner as part of a natural hat trick in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Kenora Broncos in NorWOSSA action.
“I like the guys I’m playing with,” said Tymkin, who added an assist for a four-point night and leads the Muskies (2-0) with five goals in two league games.
“They’re good guys to play alongside and they help a lot with me getting a chance to score,” he noted.
After the Broncos grabbed their only lead of the night on Duncan MacGillivray’s marker at 10:26 of the second period, Tymkin began his imitation of a wrecking ball just over a minute later.
Nolan Vold centered the puck from behind the Broncos’ net in front to Tymkin, who unleashed a quick backhander that beat Noah Wirtzke five-hole.
At 8:28 of the third, Tymkin put Fort High ahead to stay with a brilliant effort.
Picking up the puck near the Kenora blueline, Tymkin sliced between two Bronco defenders to get in alone on Wirtzke, then drilled the puck home.
“I just got through and it was one-on-one, and I saw the opening and put it in,” Tymkin recalled.
There was more to come at 11:44 of the final frame for the Muskie newcomer.
Braden Webb came off the right-wing boards and drove the net before spying Tymkin charging in on the left wing, who took Webb’s feed and zipped it past Wirtzke for a 5-3 lead.
“You give Cole an opportunity to score and he’s going to put it in for you,” said Muskie head coach Jamie Davis.
The icing on the cake came at 14:41 when Tymkin and Tyler Mosbeck set up Aaron McDowall at the point, who scored his second of the night with another long-range shot that mirrored the one he rifled home early in the second to give the Muskies a 2-1 lead.
Tyler VanUden had kickstarted the offence at 4:31 of the first with a snapshot from the top of the right face-off circle during a power-play, which Wirtzke should have had but only got a piece of and then watched it dribble behind him and in.
Davis said his team was improving with its play in its own zone, but still stressed the need to get better each game—including in the penalty department, where the Fort only gave two power plays to the Broncos all game.
“I told the guys if we keep the penalty minutes to eight or less, we’re going to be tough to play against,” noted Davis.
Forward Matthew King missed Tuesday’s game with an upper-body injury.
But Davis expected King to be well enough to play this weekend, when the Muskies head to Dryden for the Eagles’ home tournament.
The Muskies’ next NorWOSSA game is set for next Wednesday (Nov. 27) in Kenora against the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints.
The squad won’t play at home again until Dec. 9, when the Red Lake Rams invade the Ice For Kids Arena.
