Joey Payeur
Having won their first four NorWOSSA games by four goals or more, the Muskie boys’ hockey team was wondering if any team in the league was going to test them at all this season.
They don’t have to wonder anymore.
Tyler VanUden scored a pair of second-period goals, and Chase McGuire notched the game-winner later in the frame, to give Fort High a 4-3 win over the Dryden Eagles on Friday night at the ’52 Canadians Arena.
“For being short-staffed, I think our guys played as well as they can,” said Muskie head coach Jamie Davis, whose team sits atop NorWOSSA with a 5-0 record.
“We’ve got a lot of guys sick and I’m surprised we had as many as we did show up to play,” he noted.
Brent Jourdain had the other goal for the Muskies, who trailed 2-1 after the first period but got things rolling in the second against Eagles’ goalie William Chukra.
Dylan Ossachuk, who earned the win in goal for Fort High, agreed his team grew stronger as the game went on.
“We came out a little weak and Dryden played a really good game, but we held it together,” Ossachuk noted.
“With the smaller ice surface, we couldn’t beat them with speed so we had to be a lot more creative with our problem-solving,” he added.
“It was good to have a good, close game.”
With illness sweeping through the team, Carter Brown and Matt Cheetham toughed it out despite still dealing with their respective injuries.
And with Wade Johnson no longer on the roster, Davis once again turned to a pair of call-ups from the Fort Frances Bantam ‘AA’ Canadians—Jon Busch and Sully Shortreed—to fill out his lineup.
“They were much improved over the first game, very solid,” Davis said of Busch and Shortreed.
“The two of them played very well,” echoed Ossachuk. “You couldn’t even tell they weren’t full-time players for us.
“They adjusted very well.”
The Muskies begin a busy week tomorrow when they open play at a four-day tournament in Brandon.
Upon their return, the squad will head to Red Lake on Monday (Dec. 15) before scooting over to Kenora to face the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints the following night.
Fort High’s next home game is slated Friday, Dec. 19 against the Red Lake Rams.
In Muskie girls’ play, Fort High took two of three exhibition games in Thunder Bay over the weekend.
Claire Sandelovich and Kaily Greengrass supplied the goals and Calie Clendenning had the shutout in an opening 2-0 Fort win over Pembina Valley.
It was Kate Parsons’ turn next to pitch a shutout, as the netminder was flawless in a 1-0 victory against the Thunder Bay Midget ‘A’ Queens.
Annalise Hayes came up with the only goal of the game.
The Muskies closed the weekend with a 3-1 loss against the Midget ‘AA’ Queens.
Jessica Coran had the lone marker for Fort Frances, while Clendenning took the loss in goal.
The squad also has a busy week ahead in their final push before the Christmas break.
Fort High, which had its 21-game NorWOSSA winning streak snapped in a 3-2 loss to the Dryden Eagles a week ago, welcomes the Kenora Broncos tomorrow for a 7:15 p.m. clash at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then on Friday, the Muskies head to Kenora for the K-Town Christmas Classic, which wraps up Sunday.
After that, Fort High plays its last game of 2014 on Tuesday (Dec. 16) at 7:15 p.m. against the visiting Sioux Lookout Warriors.
