The visiting Eveleth Golden Bears proved to be too much for the Muskie girls’ team, with Eveleth handily winning an exhibition game 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
While the Muskies looked every bit the Bears’ physical equal in a surprisingly rough showdown, they looked unprepared and played some of their worst hockey of the season—only finding any intensity after Erika Anderson’s goal well into the third period.
“The first period we got off to a bit of a slow start,” Muskie head coach Lynn Kellar said. “We just couldn’t finish.”
The hosts found themselves in a hole early, with Eveleth’s Kayla Moe scoring five minutes into the game and then Maari Benda adding one later to lead 2-0.
What should have been an easy hill to climb for a team loaded with scoring power like the Muskies instead proved impossible as the team looked lost and traded aimless passes throughout the first and second periods.
Anderson’s goal from Lindsey Roehrig and Kristen Penner in the third finally shook the girls out of their funk, but too late. They pressed hard to net the equalizer, but were held off long enough for Bears’ captain Megan Seppi to score on the power play to ice the win.
“I thought we skated hard and played good,” Penner said after the game. “But we had to bring it during the whole game, not just the end.”
Kellar said the slow start definitely was the team’s undoing, but couldn’t guess where that sluggishness comes from.
“I wish I knew. I don’t,” he admitted. “The first goal kind of seems to get them going. I don’t know if they relax more or it builds confidence, or what.”
Brittany Moberg’s goaltending for Eveleth was also a factor as she kept the Muskies at bay through their rare chances in the early going and their furious assault in the third.
Moberg also looked better than her Muskie counterpart, Katie Stearns, who seemed to follow the team’s lead and start slow rather than carry it through the first period.
The Muskie girls next host the Dryden Eagles tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
