Lucas Punkari
The Muskie boys’ hockey team outclassed their opponents yesterday afternoon at the Emo-La Vallee Community Centre, cruising to a 12-2 romp over the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) in exhibition action.
“We kind of knew what we were getting into here,” Muskie head coach Shawn Jourdain after the game.
“They’re a single ‘A’ level school so they’re a lot smaller and also have a lot of younger kids,” he noted.
“So we just used this game as a chance to try and shore some things up before the next couple of weeks of league play,” Jourdain added.
Robbie Rea led the Muskies with a five-goal afternoon, including a natural hat-trick in the first period, which allowed Fort High to jump out to a 5-0 lead after only 11 minutes of play.
“Everything just kind of went my way today,” Rea explained.
“Wherever I was on the ice, the puck just kept coming to me and I was just in the right spot on some of my goals, and I was able to hit it in before anyone could get to me,” he reasoned.
Jeff Davis (a pair of goals and assists) and Nick Kaun (four assists) also had big afternoons yesterday.
Brett McMahon also netted a pair of goals for the Muskies while Colton Spicer, Brady McMahon, and captain Brendan Cawston rounded out the team’s scoring.
Colt Manson notched both goals for the Saints while some solid netminding by Ryan Ferguson kept the final score from being much worse.
“I thought we were a little bit slow in the first period and that we didn’t play up to what we were playing at later in the game,” Saints’ coach Travis Batters said.
“We have a majority of Grade 9 and 10 players on our team, and we knew that Fort Frances is in a different category than us, but I thought the overall result was still pretty good and it was nice to come down and play some tough competition,” he added.
The Muskies will resume NorWOSSA action tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in Dryden, which also will mark the start of a four-game road trip.
