Jamie Mountain
It will be a season full of learning for the youthful Muskie girls’ hockey team.
The black-and-gold were taken to school by the more experienced Dryden Eagles on Sunday afternoon, with the visitors using a three-goal outburst late in the third period to snag a valuable two points with a 4-1 win in NorWOSSA action at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The Muskies and Eagles were knotted at 1-1 in the final frame before Dryden made good on some golden opportunities to steal the road win.
“I thought we played hard for most of the game,” Muskie head coach Chris Sinclair said after Sunday’s loss.
“It’s just being consistent for the [entire 60] minutes.
“I think we had a couple of breakdowns that ultimately cost us that didn’t allow us a chance later to get back into the game when we were pushing,” he noted.
“That’s the way it goes, we’re young,” Sinclair reasoned.
“We’re gonna learn and hopefully these past couple of games have taught us what it takes; that we need to play a full 60 minutes,” he stressed.
The Muskies will have more chances to learn and improve this week as they were to host the International Falls Broncos last night in the first of their annual two-game “Border Battle” exhibition series (the outcome wasn’t known as of press time).
Then they’ll cap the week by heading to Portage La Prairie, Man. to play in the PCI Tournament this Friday and Saturday.
“The Fort and the Falls games, those are always fun,” Sinclair said.
“It’s just a great atmosphere,” he added. “It’s a great exhibition game for us to kind of have some excitement and to have something to look forward to.
“The girls have to be ready,” Sinclair warned.
“It’s always a battle and either team can come out on any given night and be the better team, so we just have to make sure that is us.
“And then just preparing for the weekend,” he added. “We play our first game against St. Thomas Aquinas in Portage La Prairie and then we’ll play two teams from Winnipeg so it’s going to be good competition for us.
“We just have to prepare for those games just like any other league games,” Sinclair said.
“We have to prove we can play for a full game.”
Not putting in a full 60-minute effort ultimately led to the Muskies’ demise in Sunday’s loss to Dryden here.
After a scoreless first period, Hailee Lundmark opened the scoring for the visitors just over nine minutes into the second when she blasted a slapshot past Muskie goalie Jersey Masson.
Jill Calder drew the Muskies (1-2) even just over midway through the third when she banged in the rebound of a Makenna Henttonen shot past Eagles’ goalie Hannah Zilkalns.
But the visiting Eagles (2-0) exploded for three unanswered goals in the final five minutes to seal the win.
Saige McLeod collected a loose puck, sprung past the Muskie defence on a partial breakaway, and jammed it past Masson to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead with 4:29 to go.
Michaela Morrison then caught Masson off-guard with a shot from near the blueline that slid across the ice and went in five-hole to make it 3-1.
The Muskies pulled Masson late in an effort to try and force overtime but Cali Lappage netted an empty-netter with 24 seconds left to cap the scoring.
Zilkalns earned the win while Masson was tagged with the loss.
Fort High went into Sunday’s game on the heels of a 3-1 loss to the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints last Tuesday in Kenora.
Chloe Skead opened the scoring for the hosts with six minutes to go in the first period before Rebecca Machura doubled the lead later in the frame.
Calder then bulged the twine with 7:22 left in the second to trim it to 2-1.
But Ally Turcotte capped the scoring just over eight minutes into the third to preserve the Saints’ win.
Masson suffered the loss between the pipes.
“With the Saints, I think the biggest thing with them is they have the experience,” Sinclair said.
“They’re an older bunch and they play a good game,” he noted. “They’ve been with each other for four years now, so I think just after seeing them now it was good for us to–not necessarily lose that game–but to see them and know that we can compete with them.
“There was just that mentality going in that they’re the favourite and they’re gonna win,” Sinclair conceded.
“But like I told the girls, we’ve seen every team and there’s not one of them that I don’t think we can’t beat.”
The Muskies then were slated to host the Sioux Lookout Warriors on Friday night at the Emo-La Vallee Arena but that game was cancelled due to the Warriors having a lack of players.
A make-up date will be announced shortly.
