Lucas Punkari
Boys’ squad
leads Rams
After a tightly-contested regular-season series between the two teams, the Muskie and Dryden Eagles girls’ hockey squads have carried their back-and-forth contests into the post-season.
Splitting the first two games of their best-of-three NorWOSSA semi-final, the two squads now will battle it out tomorrow night in Dryden to decide who advances to the league final against Kenora.
The Muskies, who had a chance to punch their ticket to the final yesterday afternoon after taking the series opener 3-2 in overtime Friday night in Dryden 3-2, were unable to seal deal on home ice as the Eagles skated away with a 2-1 victory.
“I thought we came out really strong in the first two periods, but we just feel apart in the third,” Muskie forward Katie Sinclair said after yesterday’s loss.
“We just allowed them to score a goal there, and we just couldn’t come back afterwards,” she reasoned.
Alexis Reid’s wrist shot to the top corner in third period gave the Eagles a lead they wouldn’t relinquish while goalie Bree Brown turned aside a number of shots in the final minutes to preserve the win.
Danielle Jean had the lone goal for the Muskies.
Friday’s overtime victory saw Taylor Dixon pace the black-and-gold on offence with a goal and an assist. But it was Jillian Langtry who netted the game-winner just a over a minute-and-a-half into the extra frame.
Meanwhile, the Muskie boys’ hockey team can clinch a ticket to the NorWOSSA final this afternoon in Red Lake in Game 2 of their best-of-three semi-final series with the Rams.
Fort High cruised to an 11-2 triumph in the series opener here Saturday night.
After allowing a power-play goal by Trenton Mann in the opening minute of the game, the Muskies woke up to score five goals before the first intermission, which set the tone for the rest of the night.
“We didn’t start out all that great as we had some problems moving the puck around in the back end a little bit,” Muskie head coach Shawn Jourdain noted.
“But after that, we started to get things shored up and as a result, we started to put the puck into the net,” he added.
Colton Spicer led Saturday’s attack with two goals and three assists.
If the Muskies can wrap up their series with the Rams today, they will face Kenora in the best-of-three NorWOSSA final starting here Friday.
The Broncos won their semi-final series over Dryden on the weekend.
