Muskie girls’ lose to Dryden

The Muskie girls’ hockey team now sports a 1-3 record after falling 3-2 to Dryden here last Wednesday afternoon.
“We were a little disappointed–actually a lot disappointed,” remarked co-coach Mark Lafleur. “We thought the girls could have played harder.
But Lafleur also stressed it is not always the girls’ fault they don’t win a game.
“I don’t think we prepared them enough for the game. They weren’t mentally prepared,” he reasoned.
And he admitted the team has some work to do before they meet up with the Kenora Broncos for the third time this season here Dec. 12.
“We are going to do something for that game,” Lafleur vowed. “We want to work on the ability to out-skate them [Kenora]. We want to be able to out-hussle them on the ice.”
Actually, the Muskies overcame a 2-0 deficit against Dryden last week, and the game went down to the wire. With overtime looming, the Eagles iced the victory on a goal by Kristan Dykalski with just 1:15 to go in regulation time.
Dryden went up 1-0 in the first period on a goal by Kasey Haw, then made it 2-0 in the second when Janet Bevilacqua, assisted by Kerri Anderson and Dykalski, tallied.
But the black-and-gold fought back. Darcy Smith, assisted by Carrie Johnson, made it 2-1 later in the second period. Then Shannon Koval netted the game-tying goal on a breakaway in the third.
It wasn’t enough, however, as Dryden scored that late goal to pull out the win.
“We weren’t where we wanted to be [against Dryden]. We slumped down a bit in Wednesday’s game,” Lafleur said, noting he would like to have the team go back to where they were against Kenora and International Falls.
“We have got some work to do,” he stressed. “I don’t think they skated as hard as they could have.”