Joey Payeur
It’s amazing what a healthy roster does for a team’s chances—and a coach’s spirits, for that matter.
The Muskie girls’ hockey team has been bedeviled by injury and illness all season. But with the list of walking wounded whittled down to one, the black-and-gold played one of their best games in blanking the host Lake of the Woods Bears 4-0 in exhibition action last Thursday in Baudette.
“We got to play three lines for the first time since the first tournament of the season,” said an upbeat Muskie coach Mel Langtry, who only was missing defender Melanie Scott.
“All the players played really well together,” he added. “It was a big positive for that kind of situation after 30 games.”
The Muskies were outshot 8-5 in the first against a Bears’ team for which Langtry had plenty of praise.
“They’re not a bad team at all,” he lauded. “They go really hard and skate very well.”
Fort High found its form in the second period during a 4-on-4 situation. Jillian Langtry won an offensive zone draw back to Shelby Rea at the point, who made a pinpoint pass across to fellow blueliner Danielle Jean, who blistered a shot into the top corner of the net at 1:47.
Sydney Jones furthered the Muskies’ cause at 3:27 with another point shot off a Katie Sinclair feed that started in low and then deflected high off a Bears’ player and into the net.
“I’m pretty happy with the amount of offence we have received from our defence this season, considering we had no returnees from last year,” noted Mel Langtry.
“We had about 20 goals from our defence group last year and we should be right around that again this year.
Only 19 seconds later, Shelby Tymkin jumped on a loose puck during a mad scramble in front of the Bears’ net to give the Muskies three goals in 1:59, with Taylor Dixon picking up an assist.
“Shelby’s been sick most of the year, but she’s really coming around now and showing us what she can do,” said Langtry.
“That whole line [Tymkin, Dixon, and Hailey Clendenning] had a really good game.”
Shae-lynn Smith completed the four-goal outburst in the middle frame with an unassisted shorthanded marker at 15:29, wiring a rocket under the arm of the Baudette goalie from just across the Bears’ blueline.
“Shae-lynn’s got a nice shot when she gets time to use it,” noted Langtry, whose team was outshot 25-22 but received a shutout performance from goalie Dana Cridland, who was making her first start in four games.
“Dana played really well for us the last time we faced Baudette, but I thought up until the last minute I might rotate and go with Melissa [Payne],” Langtry admitted.
“But Dana saved a couple of breakaways, controlled her rebounds, and had a really strong game,” he said.
“I work the goalies pretty hard in practice and make sure they see a lot of shots, so I wasn’t worried about Dana having any rust,” he continued.
“You can’t ask for much more than what she gave us.”
Fort High now heads to Pilot Mound, Man. this weekend—one of the two host sites for the Pembina Tigers’ home tournament.
The Muskies battle the Red Lake Rams, a fellow NorWOSSA squad, in their opening game Friday at 1 p.m., then will clash with the host Tigers at 7:45 p.m. at evening.
The black-and-gold then conclude preliminary-round play against the Portage Collegiate Institute Saints from Portage la Prairie, Man. on Saturday at 9:45 a.m.
The top two teams in each of the two pools in the eight-team tournament then will play cross-over semi-finals.
“We’re looking to get five games in,” vowed Langtry. “You don’t want to go that far and only play two or three.
“We’ve got a really busy February coming up and it would be nice to get some extra work in,” he reasoned.
The Muskies’ next home game is their annual exhibition clash with the International Falls Broncos this coming Tuesday (Feb. 1) at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
