Dan Falloon
It had to come eventually.
The Muskie boys’ hockey team suffered its first loss of the 2010-11 season, dropping a 6-2 decision to the East Ridge Raptors of Woodbury, Mn. at the Detroit Lakes Lakers’ tournament over the weekend.
The loss dropped Fort High to the bronze-medal game, where they trounced Sioux Falls, S.D. 13-0 to get back on the horse.
The goal scorers were not available.
Muskie head coach Shawn Jourdain wasn’t thrilled with the loss, but at least he was able to see some areas of improvement brought out by playing some of the strongest opposition the squad has faced so far.
“We played a pretty good team in the first game,” he noted. “They put a lot of pressure on us and made us make some mistakes.
“It’s a good learning curve,” he reasoned. “It’s good to see where we need to get to as far as our speed goes and moving the puck.
“We didn’t move it anywhere near quick enough and it created a lot of turnovers.”
Fort High was able to bounce back the following night, however, by thumping Sioux Falls to get back on track.
“We played really well the last two periods of the last game,” recalled Jourdain.
“Everybody contributed on Saturday night.
“We got back to moving the puck around really well, and all four lines played really well.”
The Muskies also kicked off NorWOSSA play last week, earning a 5-0 shutout over the host Dryden Eagles on Tuesday (Nov. 23).
Robbie Rea, Nolan Ross, Jeff Gustafson, Nick Kaun, and Brett McMahon all tallied while Rea and Brendan Cawston each had multi-point nights.
Jourdain noted the Eagles were short-handed, and expects a better fight when they play later in the season.
“Dryden was missing some guys,” he said. “I expect them to be a lot stronger as the season goes on.”
The Muskies won’t make their NorWOSSA home debut until next Tuesday night (Dec. 7) when Kenora visits.
“With Kenora, we know with them that we have to come out ready to go,” Jourdain stressed.
He added the Muskies might meet a NorWOSSA foe this weekend as all three squads will be heading to Brandon, Man. for a tournament.
Jourdain felt that all of the early-season travel wasn’t taking a toll on the team, which he describes as in good shape.
“I think we’re okay. We’re really well-conditioned,” he remarked.
“That’s one of the things about our teams,” he said. “If we go hard for the three periods and roll all of our lines and stay out of the penalty box, we’ll be fine.”
