Lucas Punkari
With a year’s experience under his belt behind the bench of the Muskie girls’ hockey team, head coach Scott Clendenning is fired up about getting another season underway.
“I think it’s going to be a really exciting year,” he enthused.
“We have a full slate of games and we will be going up against teams such as International Falls, Baudette, and Roseau along with our league games, so that will be a bit of a challenge,” Clendenning admitted.
“But if the girls work hard and bring the same attitude that they did at the end of last year, a lot of good things will happen.”
The process of putting together this year’s team will begin next Tuesday (Sept. 4) at the ’52 Canadians Arena, when the black-and-gold will hold tryouts over three days from 6:45-8:45 p.m.
“We want to encourage every girl to come out and try out as it’s great experience that will help you in the game of hockey, even if you’re successful in making the team or not,” Clendenning reasoned.
“On Tuesday, we will work on some skills and drills to get the girls’ legs under them and get them ready for game situations, which we will do by working on their skating and their shooting.
“The next two nights will be our black-and-white scrimmages, and we would like to encourage as many people as possibly to come out and watch,” he added.
“There will be no charge to get in, and it’s a great preview to see what the team is going to like this year.”
Although the exact number of players won’t be known until the registration process is complete Tuesday evening, Clendenning expects it will be extremely hard to determine who makes the final roster, which will be posted at Fort High next Friday morning (Sept. 7).
“We only need a few players as we only lost three players [forwards Taylor Dixon and Ericka Tymkin, and goalie Dana Cridland] to graduation, but it will be up to the returning players and the new ones to be ready to compete,” he remarked.
“If you ask any coach, this is the toughest time of the year for them when they pick the team as you look to get the right personalities, players, and combinations to move forward throughout the season,” Clendenning explained.
“It’s not something I’m really excited about doing, but I’m not going to delay it as I’ll meet with the coaching staff and a few other people who will be watching for us during the camp to decide the roster.”
Behind the bench, things will remain intact for the 2012/13 season as Mark Rea and Michelle Veldhuisen both are back for another campaign.
“It’s nice to have everybody back there, and it’ll be good to build on those little things from last year to continue to make a strong program,” Clendenning said.
Although the Muskies’ first league game isn’t until Tuesday, Nov. 13 against the visiting Dryden Eagles in a rematch of last year’s NorWOSSA semi-final showdown, the black-and-gold will be in action beforehand with tournaments in Winnipeg on Oct. 25-27 and here at home from Nov. 2-4.
The Muskies also will be travelling to a couple of different tournaments during the season.
“During the American Thanksgiving weekend, we will be going to Buffalo, Mn. and there will be some really good competition for the girls down there,” Clendenning noted.
“There’s also a new tournament in December that Kenora is trying to put on, and we will be going there to support Beaver Brae as they have always supported our tournament here,” he said.
