Jamie Mountain
After a successful weekend, the Muskie girls’ hockey team is aiming to hit the holiday break at the top of its game.
The Muskies went a perfect 4-0 en route to claiming the title at the annual K-Town Classic tournament hosted by the Kenora Broncos on Friday and Saturday and followed that up with a hard-fought 5-3 loss to the Borderland Chiefs in exhibition action on Monday night at “The Duke” (Couchiching Arena).
“It was definitely a different pace of game,” Muskie assistant coach Dylan Grinsell said of Monday’s game compared to the tournament games in Kenora.
“I think our girls were just kind of taking it lightly. We had a practice earlier today and we just told them that we wanted to work on some things, like cycling pucks, different things like that.
“I think we were more focused on maybe trying different things out, seeing what works, seeing what doesn’t,” he reasoned.
“It’s always nice to play some old teammates and some local girls that have been around the rink and community.”
Issy Taylor, Paiten Kinnear, and Abbie Kenny all lit the lamp for the Muskies in Monday’s loss to the chiefs.
Both goalies, Kamryn Sandelovich and Jersey Masson, also got to play with the pair switching teams routinely on the night.
“They played good and this weekend they both two games each, so that was nice too,” said Muskie head coach Nicole Clarke.
“But, yeah, today when I told them both that they would we playing for a whole game, they were definitely happy that they both could play the full 45 minutes or so.”
As mentioned, the black-and-gold went undefeated en route to snaring the title at the K-Town Classic over the weekend.
Fort High opened play on Friday afternoon with a 6-0 romp over the host Broncos.
Taylor and Piper cross both scored twice while Hailey Bombay and Tatum Glowasky also bulged the twine.
Masson was perfect in net to nab the shutout.
Then later that day, the Muskies grinded out a hard-fought 1-0 shootout win over the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) which counted towards the NorWOSSA standings.
After a five-minute overtime solved nothing, Glowasky potted the only goal in the shootout.
Sandelovich was stellar and turned aside every shot and each shooter she faced to preserve the win for the Muskies.
“This weekend we just really talked about playing with your heart and giving 100 percent effort all of the time and you could tell that the girls this weekend really, really wanted to win,” Clarke lauded.
“I totally believe that led to our success and winning the tournament.”
The Muskies faced the Oak Park Raiders (Winnipeg) in the crossover semifinals on Saturday, where they again came out on top with a decisive 6-1 win.
Glowasky and captain Jill Calder both lit the lamp twice while Kenny and Kianna Antonick also found the back of the net.
Masson was solid in nabbing the win between the pipes.
That win put the black-and-gold into the championship game that afternoon, where they had a rematch against the Saints.
But there would be no redemption for St. Thomas Aquinas as the Muskies pulled out another thrilling 3-2 shootout win.
Glowasky again tallied the winner while Sandelovich stoned each of the Saints’ shooters to earn the title.
Taylor and Kinnear scored the goals for Fort High in regulation time.
“We really were stressing our defensive game in Kenora and I thought the girls did awesome in our d-zone, not getting caught up the ice and allowing odd-man rushes,” Grinsell enthused.
“We were playing really tight defensively, so I thought that helped with shutting down these other teams and winning the games.”
The Muskies, who currently sport a 3-1 record in NorWOSSA play, were slated to resume league action last night against the Sioux Lookout Warriors (2-2), with the outcome not known as of press time.
It was Fort High’s last game until the new year and both Grinsell and Clarke were hopeful their squad would be able to head into the holiday break on a positive note.
“I think that we definitely can’t take them lightly,” warned Grinsell of the Warriors, who have shown a big improvement already this season from years past.
“They do have some pretty skilled girls out there and they do have a decent sized roster. They’re going to be rolling three lines, just like us, and we’re definitely not going to be taking them lightly.
“I think we expect a good challenging game. It’s our first against them, so we don’t really know quite what to expect,” he reasoned.
“But we don’t want to underestimate them.”
