Osseo downs Muskies in rout

With several players already out of the lineup due to various injuries, the Muskies could have used those extra bodies as they were crushed 7-0 by Osseo High School (Minneapolis) last night in their opening action of the four-team Warroad X-mas tournament.
But while last night’s defeat was a hard one to take, the black-and-gold suffered an even more serious blow when defenceman James Asplund was lost from the game with a broken wrist.
“It was tough when you looked down the bench and no one was there,” said Muskie head coach Glen Edwards of their injury problems after the game.
“But the boys played well despite the score . . . the score wasn’t indicative of the game.”
In fact, the Muskies actually played quite well despite the seven-goal spread, particularly in the opening minutes of each period. But the loss of Asplund forced the Muskies to drop a forward back on the blueline, creating a mess in terms of trying to establish any semblance of balanced lines.
Still, Edwards felt his players actually played “pretty good” considering the score, especially defencemen Boomer Redford, named the Fort’s game star, and Jon Rogoza.
“In the first parts of the periods, we took it to them,” said Edwards, noting Osseo’s player of the game was their goalie. “We had quality chances and all of their goals, with the exception of two of them, came after the halfway mark of the period when we started to get tired and make mistakes.”
Osseo jumped on several of those mistakes, including jumping out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Matt Wilmer, Josh Williams, and Kevin Willey.
They increased their lead to 4-0 on a goal by Joe Jensen and then iced the game with third-period goals by Dan Gilbert, Ryan Lutzka, and Jesse Haugen.
The Muskies tough test will continue in their next game of the tournament when carry their battered and bruised lineup into tonight’s contest against the host Warroad Warriors at 7:30 p.m. They close out the round-robin tournament with a matchup against Grand Forks Central at 1 p.m.
The Warriors are 1-0 in the tournament after crushing Grand Forks Central 13-2 yesterday.
Edwards said he had a chance to watch that game and was impressed with the play of three of Warroad’s defenceman and their ability to put pressure on with a strong forecheck.
But how much value is the head coach putting on tonight’s game when asked of its importance?
“Normally, I would say it’s a big game, but I think right now we’re just trying to survive,” he admitted. “I mean it’s tough when you have guys on the shelf.
“But it’s a good thing we had so much depth at the start of the season because we need it now,” he stressed.