Staff
After a first half that saw them play 33 games and travel to four tournaments, the Muskie girls’ hockey team will shift gears into a lighter schedule with a renewed focus on NorWOSSA play.
“We had a couple practices and the alumni game,” Muskie assistant coach Lynn Kellar said of their schedule over the holidays.
“Just keeping them busy and doing some fun things,” he added. “They had a pretty heavy first half, so it was nice to have the break.
“Not nearly as many games in the second half, and now we can focus a bit more on our league play,” Kellar remarked. “We just want to continue working towards getting ready for the playoffs.”
Much of their final 10 games will be against NorWOSSA opponents—and the Muskies will be looking to get back on the winning track after losing 6-3 to Dryden on Dec. 16 and then 7-1 to Kenora on Dec. 18.
Those two losses were their first in regulation time in NorWOSSA play (they had lost 2-1 in overtime to Dryden in the season-opener Nov. 11).
The team sat in second place at 3-2-0-1 prior to last night’s tilt with the Broncos (the outcome was unavailable prior to press time).
Dryden is in top spot at 5-0 while Kenora is back in third at 1-5-0-1.
The Muskies salvaged a win in exhibition play, however, with a 4-2 win over the host International Falls Broncos on Dec. 19 to feel a little better about themselves going into the holiday season.
Kellar hopes by practising this past week, they’ll hopefully avoid any post-holiday sluggishness.
“They’ve looked pretty good in practice,” he said. “Typically after the break it’s a little bit sluggish, first time back in game action, but we’ll see.”
The squad next will hit the ice tomorrow for an exhibition game against the Lake of the Woods Bears at 7:30 p.m. in Emo.
