Dan Falloon
Giving up late leads has become a nasty habit for the Muskie girls’ hockey team.
The black-and-gold were tripped up 7-4 by the host Dryden Eagles on Tuesday night for their second-straight defeat after another collapse in the third period.
Fort High (6-6) had fallen 6-5 to Kenora here Saturday after leading 4-2 after two.
Coach Mel Langtry credited his team for sticking with the first-place Eagles for just over two periods, but then stalled en route to getting outscored 5-2 in the final frame.
Carlee Bosma had given the Muskies a 1-0 lead but the Eagles stormed back with a quick pair.
Courtney Easton evened the game at 2-2 before the second intermission, then Jillian Langtry scored early in the third to put the black-and-gold ahead.
From there, however, the wheels fell off for the second-straight outing.
Dryden tied the score and then took the lead in about a 20-second span before jumping ahead 5-3 just over a minute later.
Jessica Taggart pulled the Muskies to within 5-4 with just over two minutes to go, but Dryden hemmed the Muskies in their own zone from there—notching a pair in the final minute to seal the win.
The Muskies have been outscored 9-3 in the third period in their last two games, turning late leads into losses.
“It’s tough and we’ve got to figure that out. We’ve got to start putting a whole 60 minutes together,” stressed coach Langtry.
“It seems like in spurts, we had a really good start. Our second was good once again,” he noted.
“But our third, we just seemed to let them play,” he added. “And they get a goal and we just seem to get down on ourselves, and they keep coming.
“We were leading both games, and to lose is tough on the girls and the coaching staff,” Langtry admitted.
Fort High has two more NorWOSSA games left, visiting Kenora tomorrow (Feb. 19) before hosting Dryden in their regular-season finale on Tuesday (Feb. 23) at 7 p.m. at the ’52 Canadians Arena.
Langtry said he hopes to have captain Erika Anderson back for the playoffs. She has missed the past seven weeks with a broken collarbone.
“It’d be a morale booster,” he remarked. “We’ve been missing her on the point, and she calms down the younger kids, too.”
Meanwhile, the Muskie boys’ team is trying to combat a late-season slide of its own.
After battering their NorWOSSA opponents for much of the season, that dominance has faded in recent weeks.
The black-and-gold lost their second-straight game, and third of five overall, after Tuesday night’s 4-3 overtime loss to the host Kenora Broncos.
Individual goal scorers were not available.
“We’re still not at where we were. We need to get back there,” stressed Muskie coach Shawn Jourdain.
“They just outworked us.”
Tuesday’s game wrapped up regular-season play for the Muskies, who will have a chance to right the ship tomorrow night (Feb. 19) when they cross the border to face the International Falls Broncos in exhibition action.
Even with the recent skid, the Muskies are entrenched atop the NorWOSSA ‘AA’ division standings with a 9-1-2 record.
Both Muskie hockey squads will kick off playoff action next Friday (Feb. 26).
