Joey Payeur
The Muskie girls’ hockey team took over sole possession of first place in NorWOSSA with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Dryden Eagles here Tuesday night.
Fort High (7-1) prevailed in the fifth round of the shootout when Janelle Kaemingh unloaded a perfect wrist shot right under the crossbar to beat Eagles’ goalie Jacquie Grandmont.
“I was so nervous,” Kaemingh admitted with a smile.
“I had no plan going in≤” she noted. “I just saw the open spot and said, ‘I have to do it,’ and it worked out.
“I was surprised,” added Kaemingh. “[Grandmont’s] a good goalie but I decided to shoot from further out because I didn’t want to get in too deep.”
The Muskies grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by blueliners Avery Cates in the first period and Sara Jackson in the second.
Fort High looked to be in business even though they lost top scorer Annalise Hayes with 38 seconds left in the first period after she was assessed a minor and a game misconduct for checking from behind.
But Dryden (6-1-0-1) wouldn’t go without a fight—cutting into the lead on Darra Zieroth’s power-play goal later in the second.
McKenzie Corvello then stepped out of the penalty box and beat Muskie goalie Sydney Beck with 2:09 to go.
A 10-minute overtime (five minutes longer than NorWOSSA allows for but which was agreed to by both coaches and the officials who weren’t aware of the rule), yielded plenty of chances but no goals.
That led to the first shootout in Muskie girls’ history.
Beck denied all five Dryden shooters—making four saves while forcing Leah Balla to shoot high over the net.
Grandmont was just as good at the other end, with two saves and causing Rylee Redford and Rachel Jean both to fire wide of the target.
But Kaemingh made sure it would be the Muskies with a one-point lead in the standings—and set up what likely will be the game that decides first place in the season series finale Feb. 6 in Dryden.
“I’ve got to give the girls credit tonight,” said Muskie head coach Todd Hamilton.
“They battled back to take it.”
The Muskies visit Sioux Lookout today to take on the Warriors in NorWOSSA play.
Then after an overnight stay in Dryden, it’s off to Thunder Bay for a full weekend of exhibition action.
Fort High first will face the Confederation College Thunderhawks tomorrow night, then will battle the Thunder Bay Minor Midget ‘AA’ and ‘A’ Queens on Saturday.
They’ll cap the weekend visit Sunday against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves.
The Muskies were scheduled to face the Silver Bay (Mn.) Mariners in a home-and-home exhibition series next week but it was cancelled.
That means the black-and-gold aren’t scheduled to play in the local area again until Jan. 26, when they’ll take on the Falls Broncos at Bronco Arena.
But there’s a possibility that two home makeup game against St. Thomas Aquinas, which were postponed last month, may be slotted into the schedule in the upcoming weeks.
