Jamie Mountain
The Muskie boys’ hockey team came oh so close again over the weekend.
The squad won its first three games before falling 2-1 to the Sturgeon Heights Huskies on Sunday in the championship game of the annual Piper Classic tournament in Winnipeg.
The black-and-gold opened play Friday with a 6-0 shutout win over the Shaftesbury Titans.
Eric Pitkanen paced the Muskies with a hat trick while Darian Klem earned the shutout.
Fort High then cruised to an 11-1 win over the Lorette Scorpions.
In Saturday’s semi-final, the Muskies came through with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the Lord Selkirk Rebels to set up yesterday’s showdown against the Huskies.
Pitkanen, Jon Busch, and Byron Stewart all were selected to the tournament all-star team.
The Muskies, who are 8-0 in NorWOSSA play, resume league action tomorrow when they host the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
On Thursday, they’ll face the host Dryden Eagles in a make-up game for the one that was postponed back on Dec. 5.
The Muskies then will cap the week by hosting the Red Lake Rams on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
In Muskie girls’ action, meanwhile, the black-and-gold rallied from a two-goal deficit to forge a 5-5 tie against International Falls on Saturday at Bronco Arena.
Captain Annalise (C.C.) Hayes netted a hat trick to pace the Muskies’ attack.
The Broncos jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals by Marissa Kerry.
Siobhan Mackintosh gave the Muskies some life at 12:06 when she connected to trim it to 2-1.
Hayes then netted her first of the game at 13:53 of the second to even it at 2-2.
The Broncos regained a two-goal lead in the third period, getting a markers from Emma Erickson just 36 seconds in before Amber Tilander made it 4-2 at 4:24.
Hayes then made it a one-goal game with an unassisted marker at 11:04 but Tilander responded a few minutes later to push it to 5-3.
Hayes completed her hat trick to bring the Muskies back within a goal before Jillan Calder tied the score at 16:39.
After overtime solved nothing, the game ended as a tie.
The black-and-gold came into the game after having lost 4-1 to the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) last Thursday night, which dropped their NorWOSSA record to 11-1-1.
Hayes netted the lone Muskie goal in the third period while Ally Turcotte, Rebecca Machura, Brynn Rawn, and Abby Dent all tallied for the Saints.
Sarah From earned the win while Kamryn Sandelovich was tagged with the loss.
The black-and-gold are next in NorWOSSA action this Thursday when they visit the Kenora Broncos.
