Lucas Punkari
The Muskie boys’ hockey team nipped Kenora 3-2 in a shootout in their NorWOSSA home-opener Tuesday night, but head coach Shawn Jourdain felt they could have done more.
“We still have a lot of things to work on going ahead, and that’ll start at our next practice,” he stressed.
“When we play according to our game plan, we do a great job at that,” Jourdain noted. “But there are times where the guys think that they can get away from it and do their own thing, and that’s when we run into problems.
“Plus, I don’t like the fact that we had to go to another shootout,” he added.
During the last couple of minutes of overtime, the Muskies found themselves with a 4-on-3 power-play opportunity to win the game but were unable to score, forcing another shootout with the Broncos.
With goalie Scott Parsons making some huge pad saves to prevent the Broncos from scoring, Tyler Mosbeck put a wrist shot past Brandin Seniw in the fourth round of the shootout to give the black-and-gold the win.
“As I was heading down the ice, I just aimed for the bottom of the net,” recalled Mosbeck, who also scored during regulation time.
“I was pretty surprised that the shot ended up going in,” he admitted. “But I was also really excited that I was able to get the guys the win.”
Robbie Rea also scored for the home squad, with Hunter Leishman and Ryan Windigo drawing assists.
While the Broncos, who had beaten the Muskies in a shootout the previous Tuesday in Kenora, earned a point for the shootout loss, they lost of the services of forward Jon Neniska for a considerable period of time.
Just past the midway mark of the first period, the Grade 9 forward suffered a broken left femur and a dislocated left knee during a play in the corner, which delayed the game for a few minutes as medical staff helped him off the ice.
“It wasn’t a dirty play or anything like that, it was just an unfortunate situation,” noted Broncos’ coach Martin Straight.
“Jon’s one of those guys who works hard all of the time, and he’s already contributed with a few big goals for us this year, so he’s definitely going to be missed and we hope he can come back as quickly as possible,” Straight added.
“But he’s obviously going to be out for a while.”
The Muskies resume NorWOSSA play next Tuesday (Nov. 29) at 7:15 p.m., when the Dryden Eagles pay their first visit of the season to the Ice For Kids Arena.
