Joey Payeur
No doubt about it—the Muskie girls hockey team prefers Canadian Warriors over the American variety.
Annalise Hayes kicked off her NorWOSSA career in grand style with six goals and seven points to pace the Muskies to a 13-1 demolition of the Queen Elizabeth Warriors in the two teams’ regular-season opener in Sioux Lookout on Sunday.
It was a 180-degree turnaround from two nights earlier, when Fort Frances lost for the first time in 11 games this season by an 8-1 count to the Warroad Warriors in exhibition play in Warroad.
“We were moving the puck well, but I give Sioux Lookout all the credit in the world,” said Muskies head coach Scott Clendenning.
“They had a full bench and are really building their team.”
The black-and-gold fired a jaw-dropping 107 shots at Queen Elizabeth goalie Kyla Kulchiski, who made an even more phenomenal 94 saves to keep the final margin of victory from being much larger.
Meanwhile, Kate Parsons was tested only four times and stopped three shots to pick up the easy win.
“A game like that gives us the opportunity to practice a lot of our systems,” noted the bench boss.
Hayes got to work early, as the Grade 9 rookie scored twice in six seconds just past the five-minute mark to make it 2-0.
Kaily Greengrass increased the lead at 14:56 and Claire Sandelovich added a back-breaker with only eight seconds remaining in the initial frame to bump the lead to 4-0.
Haylei Diston found the back of the net 31 seconds into the second to put Sioux Lookout on the board.
But Hayes came back around to complete her first hat trick at 4:10 for a 5-1 advantage.
That was the first of nine unanswered Fort goals, with Janelle Kaemingh sandwiching a pair of goals around Hayes’ fourth of the game to make it 8-1 entering the third.
The Muskie barrage continued after the intermission, with Hayes setting up Jessica Coran at 3:04 and then netting her fifth of the night 14 seconds later.
Sam McKinnon made sure the Fort defence got into the goal-scoring fun with her marker at the 14-minute mark, followed a mere seven seconds later by a goal from Amy Penner, who set up McKinnon’s marker.
Hayes made it a double hat trick at 17:47 with Penner notching her third assist and fourth point of the contest.
Greengrass finished with three points.
On the European-sized ice surface in Warroad, the Muskies hung tough through the first period, trailing only 1-0 on a goal from Brooke Hellquist.
But the host side started getting more of a jump on their Canadian visitors in the second, bulging the twine four times to move in front 5-0.
Francesca Huerd and Madison Oelkers beat Calie Clendenning 14 seconds apart in the first three minutes of the frame, before Demi Gardiner tallied twice in 56 seconds in the last five minutes of the stanza.
Warroad kept coming in the third, with Huerd, Mariah Gardiner and Cassie Pelland potting goals in a span of 2:27 before the five-minute mark for an 8-0 advantage.
Coran wiped out the shutout hopes of Warriors goalie Dani Knott at 12:20 on a setup from Hayes to close the scoring.
Knott had 17 saves in the win, while Clendenning had 29 saves for the Muskies.
“(Warrorad) was a very solid team, but I think we weren’t ready mentally and physically on the big ice,” theorized Coach Clendenning.
“Some of the girls were a little overwhelmed, but in the first, we had our opportunities and it was end-to-end … They just capitalized on their opportunities.”
The two teams will play the second of their two-game season series in Fort Frances on Jan. 17.
The Muskies journey to Kenora tomorrow night to face the Beaver Brae Broncos.
Next home game for the Fort won’t be until Dec. 8 against the Dryden Eagles, although the Muskies will take on the International Falls Broncos in the first of a two-game exhibition series this season on Dec. 2 at Bronco Arena at 7 p.m.
