Lucas Punkari
Following three days of tryouts last week at the Ice For Kids Arena, the coaching staff of the Muskie girls’ hockey team, led by new bench boss Scott Clendenning, had a tough task on their hands.
Following the final scrimmage Thursday evening, they had to decide which of the 32 players who came out for the tryouts would make the final 19-player squad—and quickly so that the roster could be posted in the school on Friday.
“If you ask any coach, picking the team is one of the toughest parts of the season,” Clendenning remarked.
“It’s even more difficult when you have 32 players all vying for a spot on the roster, so that made everything tough for the coaching staff,” he added.
In the end, Clendenning and his assistants (Mark Rea and Michelle Veldhuisen) elected to go with a veteran-led squad, with 11 skaters (Hailey Clendenning, Taylor Dixon, Nikki Horn, Danielle Jean, Sarah Milling, Alyssa Penner, Shelby Rea, Katie Sinclair, Shae-Lynn Smith, Erika Tymkin and Shelby Tymkin) and one goalie (Dana Cridland) returning from last year’s team.
“Having those many veterans back should be a very big help, but the emphasis has to be on the whole team effort,” Clendenning noted.
“Everyone has to be moving out there and everyone has to be buying into the system that we are going to be playing,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Clendenning said he’s looking forward to watching how the seven new players on the team (Shilo Beck, Kailey Greengrass, Amber Jourdain, Mallory Payne, Amy Penner, Alexis Perrault and goalie Calie Clendenning) progress during their rookie season with the black-and-gold.
“That is the beauty of coaching,” he remarked. “It’s watching that process from the starting product to the finished product, and my ultimate goal is see where that product ends up.”
The battles between the veterans and newcomers were watched throughout the three days of tryouts, and in the end made the final cuts a hard process to wade through.
“We had a good group of girls returning, but we also had a real good strong core coming up with a lot of Grade 9 players included, so that made things really difficult,” Clendenning admitted.
“We were looking for players that were ready to play, and players who came into camp in good condition and were ready to make that next step,” he explained.
“There were some that were right on the bubble that weren’t quite ready yet, but the strength of the girls that are coming up bodes really well for the future of Muskie girls’ hockey,” Clendenning added.
“For those girls that didn’t make it, I would just say to keep moving forward, keep playing the game, and that there’s always next year’s camp to tryout at.”
But while Clendenning was pleased with the spark he saw during the tryout scrimmages, there was one thing he’d like to shore up quickly before the season begins.
“It was obvious watching the training camp that there are some players that are very out of shape and not conditioned,” he stressed.
“I wasn’t impressed with that, especially since some of those players are senior players, and we need to get them in condition so they can play at their best.”
The first chance local hockey fans will get to see the Muskie girls in action will be during their annual tournament, which gets underway Friday, Oct. 21.
“The schedule hasn’t be totally finalized yet, but I would expect we would take [the ice] on that Friday night,” Clendenning noted.
“But we would definitely like to have everyone come out to the arena to watch the new product that we will have on the ice,” he added.