Joey Payeur
Take a breath, get a goal, take control.
That’s all the Muskie boys’ hockey team had to do last night after shrugging off a shaky opening five minutes and a 2-0 deficit to rally for a 5-3 win over the visiting International Falls Broncos to sweep this season’s “Border Battle” exhibition series.
“We were a little scrambly and really panicky with the puck for no reason in our own zone,” noted Muskie head coach Jordan Sinclair.
“Those boys [the Broncos] can skate and maybe that made us a little uncomfortable because we’re not used to seeing that,” he reasoned.
Brock O’Loughlin and Brandon Podpeskar staked the Broncos to a two-goal lead less than six minutes into the game.
Eric Pitkanen settled things down for the black-and-gold just under 10 minutes into the period, collecting a rebound of his own shot off the end boards and ramming it past Broncos’ goalie Jake Klow.
The Muskies then scored three times in the second.
Goals 55 seconds apart by Cam Gushulak and Mikel Ward gave Fort High its first lead with a little over five minutes left in the middle frame.
Brett Lindvall tied it with 1:19 before intermission, but Pitkanen gave the home squad the lead right back just 31 seconds later with a seeing-eye point shot that threaded its way through two sets of legs in front and past Klow.
Muskie captain Mike Drouin provided some insurance 1:18 into the third–converting a great cross-ice feed from James Gushulak for Fort High’s second power-play goal of the night in front of the roughly 800 fans from both sides of the river.
“Playing in front of a big crowd like this will certainly help us later as, come OFSAA, you’re going to have to get used to it,” noted Drouin.
“Tonight showed we can deal well with the pressure.”
Matt Booth earned the win in goal while Klow took the loss.
The Muskies, who sit atop NorWOSSA with a 10-0 record in league play, head to Dryden on Thursday to face on the second-place Eagles (9-3).
A win virtually will lock up top spot and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Next home game for the Fort is on Feb. 15 against the Kenora Broncos.
As for the Muskie girls, who turned out in full force last night dressed in their road jerseys to cheer on their male counterparts, they will host the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) tonight at 7 p.m. at the ’52 Canadians Arena.
Fort High (13-1) already has clinched first place in NorWOSSA.
Meanwhile, the Saints (5-6) are trying to stave off the Sioux Lookout Warriors (4-9) for third place and avoid a semi-final showdown with the Muskies.
