Joey Payeur
The Muskie girls’ hockey team began its march towards a possible fourth-straight NorWOSSA title with a two-game sweep of the host Sioux Lookout Warriors last week.
After opening the regular season with a 12-1 thrashing on Thursday night, Fort High capped the road trip with a 7-1 win Friday.
But Muskie head coach Todd Hamilton was most pleased with having 11 of his players get at least one point apiece both nights.
“I liked the concept of having balanced scoring,” he said.
“We were rolling all our lines and defensive pairings, even on the penalty kill and power play,” Hamilton added.
“Everyone played a lot.”
Jenna Clendenning netted a hat trick in Friday’s penalty-filled win while Annalise (CC) Hayes added a pair of goals, with captain Janelle Kaemingh collecting three assists.
The Muskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Hayes, Jillian Calder, and Clendenning.
Sydney MacDonald then beat Muskie rookie goalie Kamryn Sandelovich with 12.8 seconds left in the first to instill some hope in the Warriors.
But Sandelovich wouldn’t be fooled again in her NorWOSSA regular-season debut as the Muskies scored the final four goals of the game.
Clendenning completed her hat trick with goals 1:33 into the second period and with 1:01 left in the same frame.
“The ‘Red Line’ [Clendenning, Siobhan Mackintosh, and Taylor Croswell] played great all weekend, as did all our lines,” Hamilton lauded.
Hanna LeDrew made it 6-1 less than four minutes into the third before Hayes notched her second of the night—and seventh in two games—to cap the scoring.
Grade 9 affiliate player Jenelle Manitowabi started in goal for the Warriors but never finished her first high school outing, with veteran Alex Morin relieving her midway through the game.
Manitowabi was called into action due to Morin getting roasted the night before and regular No. 1 starter Kyla Kulchyski (along with several other players) being away with the Warriors’ senior girls’ basketball team competing at the NWOSSAA championship in Marathon.
“We really appreciate the way Sioux Lookout plays an aggressive, rough style,” said Hamilton.
“That usually leads to a lot of retaliatory penalties,” he noted. “But our kids did a good job being disciplined, even though they were taking a lot of grief from the Warriors.
“I think Sioux Lookout is going to give both Kenora teams and Dryden all kinds of trouble [this season],” Hamilton added.
“I thought their goalies played really well both nights, despite the score.
“We had to earn all the goals,” he stressed.
The Muskies took target practice against Morin in the opener Thursday—getting three goals in the first, four in the second, and five more in the third.
Hayes led the attack with five goals, combining with Calder for goals 22 seconds apart midway through the first for a 2-0 lead.
Both were set up by Jessica Steele in what was her and Calder’s Muskie debuts.
Croswell made it 3-0 before the end of the period, then tallied again early in the second.
Natasha Lawson’s power-play goal spoiled Sydney Beck’s shutout bid at 7:07 to trim the lead to 4-1.
But the Muskies promptly put the game out of reach with eight unanswered goals the rest of the way.
Hayes netted back-to-back goals, then set up Lauren Hamilton just 26 seconds later for a 7-1 lead.
In the third, Steele tallied before Hayes again bulged the twine twice in a row to make it 10-1.
Kelsey Langtry got in on the act with 1:30 to go, finishing a set-up from Calder and Reece McQuaker, before Kaemingh got her first of the season with 25 seconds left.
Hamilton praised both his goalies after the series.
“We’re fortunate to have two strong goalies,” he remarked.
“They had to stand and watch for a long time, and then we got caught giving up a couple of 3-on-1s and 2-on-1s and they were able to spring to life when we needed them.”
The Muskies played their regular-season home-opener last night against the Kenora Broncos (score unavailable as of press time).
The black-and-gold then will host the Dryden Eagles tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then the first chapter in this season’s “Border Battle” against the International Falls Broncos goes next Tuesday (Nov. 29) at 7:15 p.m. at IFK.
