Joey Payeur
The Muskie girls’ hockey team has been living on cruise control since the start of the season.
Then their coach decided to flip the car into an entirely different gear.
Scott Clendenning figured it was time to shake up his squad, which had 11 mostly easy wins and a tie in its first 12 games.
That brought about a pair of games against the Thunder Bay Midget ‘AA’ Queens on Saturday, followed by one versus the Midget ‘A’ Queens on Sunday.
Fort High came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard both times Saturday as the ‘AA’ Queens coasted to 8-2 and 7-1 victories.
The black-and-gold reversed the script Sunday, though, by blanking the ‘A’ Queens 3-0.
“It was a great weekend of hockey,” an upbeat Clendenning said.
“The goal was to get the girls out of their comfort zone and elevate their game,” he noted.
The Muskies found out quickly Saturday that they were facing an entirely different challenge than what they’ve encountered so far this season, with the ‘AA’ Queens jumping out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period.
Karli Nummikoski was a one-girl wrecking crew—opening the scoring at 6:30, then setting up goals 15 seconds apart by Bronwyn Bolduc and Emily Oleksuk later in the period.
Bolduc netted her second at 17:11.
Alex Sawyer made it 5-0 at 3:37 of the second before Katie Sinclair finally broke through for the Muskies at 11:24 on a set-up from Amber Jourdain and Alexis Perreault.
Claire Sandelovich narrowed the gap to 5-2 at 14:30, with Hailey Clendenning and Kaily Greengrass getting assists.
But that only appeared to inspire the Queens to pick up their game even more as they fired home three more goals.
Oleksuk notched her second at 3:08 of the third, with Michelle Carlson (at 7:43) and Jess Ricklefs (with 37 seconds to go) piling on some extra offence for Thunder Bay.
The rematch later Saturday proved no less one-sided as the Queens took a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Ricklefs and Paige Sullivan.
Thunder Bay turned on the afterburners in the second—striking four times.
Sullivan popped her second at 6:46, followed by Kaley Tienhaara notching a pair of goals 1:22 apart at the midway point of the stanza.
Oleksuk rounded out the second-period shellacking by scoring with 56 seconds left, with Sam Isbell chalking up her fourth assist of the game on the play.
Muskie captain Shelby Tymkin supplied the only offence for her side with a goal at 2:10 of the third, with Jourdain and Sinclair garnering assists.
Ricklefs capped the scoring at 15:50.
One highlight for Fort High was its penalty-killing unit, which was a perfect 6-for-6 against the Queens over the two games, although the power-play failed to click on seven tries.
Then Sunday’s game against the ‘A’ Queens didn’t see the plan come together for the Muskies until the third period as the two teams were scoreless through the first two.
Shilo Beck and Sarah Milling set up Jessica Coran for the game’s opening goal at 9:20 of the final frame to give the Muskies their first lead of the weekend.
Beck then made it two helpers for the day with an assist on Amy Penner’s marker at 13:10.
Thunder Bay pulled its goalie to try for a comeback with the extra attacker. But Tymkin replied with an empty-netter with two seconds left to seal the victory.
The Muskies—1-0 in NorWOSSA play—travelled to Dryden last night to take on the Eagles in their second league game of the season (the outcome was unavailable by press time).
A busy week continues tomorrow night in Sioux Lookout, where the Muskies will battle the Warriors in NorWOSSA action, before heading to Baudette on Monday for an exhibition game against the Lake of the Woods Bears.
Fort High’s next home game—an exhibition clash with the International Falls Broncos—goes Tuesday (Dec. 3) at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The game will feature the home squad’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss,” in which fans throw stuffed toys onto the ice after the first Muskie goal.
The toys then will be collected and distributed by the local Salvation Army during the Christmas season.
