Muskie girls close to first win

Brooke Norman and Nikki Krueger proved fatal to the Muskie girls’ hockey team’s chance to notch its first NorWOSSA win this season.
The Dryden Eagles duo each connected for hat tricks as the black-and-gold fell by a 7-4 score at the Ice for Kids Arena here last night.
Krueger scored at the 4:45 mark of the first, then again nine seconds into the middle frame to put the Eagles (4-2-1) up 2-0.
But the feisty Muskies (0-7) pulled up their socks instead of pushing the panic button, with Tara Lloyd converted a Steph Strachan pass at 2:33 to put Fort High on the board.
Norman regained Dryden’s two-goal lead at 9:31, but Kristin Roehrig countered only 14 seconds later to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes.
The Eagles looked safe after Norman and Krueger made it 5-2 six minutes into the third.
But showing no end of determination, the Muskies struck back as Brooke Shabatura put away a Sarah O’Sullivan feed at 8:18, before Roehrig deftly tipped in Darcy Smith’s shot from the left face-off circle at 14:41 to narrow the deficit to 5-4.
But Norman stifled the comeback attempt, one-timing a Carly Brown pass from the corner to finish her three-goal outing at 17:08.
Jane Cortens then added a beautiful goal on an unassisted rush from centre to ice the victory.
Meanwhile, the male Muskies survived being outshot 36-16 and falling behind 2-0 to pull out a 2-2 overtime tie with the Lake of the Woods Baudette Bears in exhibition play there last night.
Darren Becklund and Brandon Ballard had put the Bears up 2-0 in the second, but Steven Sus broke the goose egg for the black-and-gold at 13:42 of the period to give the Muskies new life.
After giving up the winning goal with 0.6 seconds left in a 4-3 loss against the Bears here Dec. 17, the Muskies turned the tables as Tanner Kaemingh earned the tie by scoring with 10 seconds to go in regulation time.
Both Muskie teams head to Kenora this Friday night to take on the Broncos. The girls then travel to Red Lake for a two-game exhibition set against the Rams, whom they defeated 4-1 here back on Dec. 6.
Dryden comes here next Tuesday (Jan. 14) to take on both the boys’ and girls’ teams. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.