Muskie girls blanked in tourney final

The headline in the Sunday Winnipeg Free Press sports section said it all: “Krukoski’s hat trick lifts Muskies into final.”
Having the opportunity to compete in the championship final of last weekend’s fifth-annual Silver Oak Invitational Winnipeg Women’s High School Hockey Tournament was a dream come true for the 21 skaters and three coaches on the Muskie girls’ hockey team.
After a gutsy effort last year, the Muskies served notice they’ve stepped up their game a notch this season—to compete with and defeat some of the best teams Winnipeg has to offer.
The black-and-gold, fresh off the bus, hit the ice Friday for a 3 p.m. tilt with the St. James Blues.
The Blues, a first-year entry, had only 11 skaters and the Muskies, though not sharp, controlled play early—getting the game’s only goal from second-year winger Lauren Krukoski with 4:15 left in the first period.
After a Taylor Meyers’ face-off win, Erin Kaemingh zipped a beautiful cross-ice pass to Krukoski, who let fly a 20-foot slapshot that dented the twine in the top right corner.
Despite a strong second and third period effort from St. James, who at times outplayed the Muskies, the black-and-gold earned the 1-0 victory, with Katie Stearns turning away all 18 shots to earn the shutout.
The Muskies jumped back on the ice three hours later for a Friday night game with the Lord Selkirk Royals.
With the bus rust gone, the girls kicked their game to a higher level. Quick line changes, smooth puck movement, and few penalties combined to give the girls numerous chances to score.
Nonetheless, a scoreless tie continued into the third period.
Selkirk struck first off a Muskie miscue as Dee Dee Gibson rammed home a rebound with 13:59 to play.
A quick glance to the Muskie bench told the story: unhappy but confident, the squad stormed back.
Despite a determined effort by Selkirk, they could not keep the Muskies at bay, and a beautiful individual effort by Carly Holt knotted the score at 1-1.
With 8:22 left in regulation time, Holt went coast to coast, beating three defenders in the process before calmly going low to the short side with the game-tying wrist shot.
The final two minutes were not without drama as Muskie Kailey Curtis was penalized for high-sticking. But a huge penalty kill preserved the 1-1 draw and propelled the Muskies into a Saturday afternoon semi-final match against the highly-touted Silver Heights Huskies.
Silver Heights, who had defeated Kenora 2-1 to gain a berth in the semi-finals, was loaded with scoring talent.
The Muskies, however, broke the game open early as Miranda Kellar made a brilliant play stick-handling down the left side and drawing the entire Huskie team to her before dishing off to Lauren Krukoski, who let go a 40-foot howitzer for a 1-0 lead.
Krukoski then netted her second of the game shorthanded three minutes later as she raced into the Huskie zone, grabbed the puck, muscled herself into scoring position, and roofed a wrist shot for a two-goal advantage.
Then less than two minutes later on the power play, Carly Holt won a draw back to Kailey Curtis, who unleashed a slapshot through traffic for the Muskies’ third goal of the period.
It was more of the same in the second period as the Muskie dominated all facets of the game. Curtis put them up 4-0 with her second tally of the game.
As linemates Holt and Kellar scrummed, Curtis grabbed the loose puck and whipped a wrist shot top shelf.
Not to be denied, Silver Heights took advantage of a Muskie letdown to score a pair of goals late in the period to make the score 4-2 after two.
Silver Heights tallied again four minutes into the third to draw within one, and an epic battle ensued with a berth to the tourney final on the line.
The Muskie fought back with Krukoski netting her third goal of the game off a tic-tac-toe play with Taylor Meyers and Jessica Barker to put the Muskies up 5-3 with 2:39 to play.
With their goalie pulled and Erin Kaemingh in the penalty box, the Huskies had a brief six-on-four opportunity and scored with 15 seconds left to make the final 5-4 in favour of Fort High.
The championship final saw the perennial Winnipeg champion St. Mary’s Flames facing off against a very confident Muskie squad.
Both teams came out flying, with St. Mary’s sniper Susan Deane getting the Flames on the board with 6:16 left in the first off a nifty goalmouth tip-in.
Another tip-in goal on a two-player advantage at the 4:06 mark of the second made it 2-0 for St. Mary’s.
Despite their outstanding play, the Muskies could not solve Flames’ goalie Courtney Lofto.
Time after time they forechecked the Flames into submission, creating numerous turnovers and plenty of scoring chances—only to be denied by Lofto.
Early in the third period, St. Mary’s popped a pair of quick goals to go up 4-0.
The Muskies, however, continued the onslaught and often were only inches away from getting on the board as they peppered the Flames’ netminder with quality chances.
In the end, the Flames prevailed 4-0, but the Muskies were pleased, having set a new standard of excellence—and a raised level of expectation for a team beginning its seventh season of existence.
The Muskie girls were on the road last night (Nov. 7) as they opened the regular season against the defending NorWOSSA champion Dryden Eagles (the outcome was not known by press time).
The Muskies’ next league action is their home-opener on Tuesday, Nov. 21 versus the Kenora Broncos.
In related news, the girls will host an open house on Monday, Nov. 20. Everyone is invited to “Meet the Muskies” and tour the girls’ newly-renovated locker-room from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Then on Saturday, Nov. 25, the girls will host their second-annual tea and bake sale at the East End Hall.