Staff
There were more shots flying than in a 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, but the Muskie girls’ hockey team was having trouble keeping their target within rifle range.
But enough of the Muskies’ ammunition hit the bull’s-eye to allow them to be the best of the second tier at the annual Sturgeon Heights Huskies tournament in Winnipeg over the weekend.
After lighting the lamp just five times in the first two games, Fort High piled up 15 goals in their last two outings to capture the consolation crown one week after winning silver in their home tournament.
“It was starting to come around near the end of the weekend, but we’ve got to find the [back of the] net a few more times,” said Muskie coach Mel Langtry.
“Defensively, we played well, though,” he added. “We gave up probably 35 shots in the first game, but then held the opposition to 20 or less the last three games.”
Jesse Baker got the Muskies off on the right foot with the game’s first goal in the first period of their tourney tip-off Friday against Winnipeg’s College Jeanne-Sauve Olympiens, which counts among its alumni former Canadian national women’s team goalie Sami-Jo Small.
But Baker’s opening salvo was washed away by a three-goal outburst by the Olympiens in a four-minute span to give the Winnipeg crew a 3-1 lead at the break.
Alyssa Penner and Jillian Langtry put the Muskies back on even terms with second-period markers. But College Jeanne-Sauve regained the lead before intermission, then extended it to 5-3 one minute into the third.
Taylor Dixon’s power-play goal with seven minutes to go brought Fort High back to within one. But even with goalie Dana Cridland pulled for an extra attacker, the Muskies couldn’t find the mark for the tying goal in the 5-4 defeat.
“We had some good chances and put a couple through the crease a couple of times, but just couldn’t put it in,” said Coach Langtry.
Balmoral Hall (Winnipeg) provided the next challenge for the Muskies, who came at the Blazers in waves but had to settle for a 1-1 tie.
Despite outshooting the Blazers 53-20, the black-and-gold was kept from victory by the heroics of Balmoral Hall goalie Chantal Lischynski, who came up with 52 saves—many rating high on the difficulty scale.
“Their goalie was pretty darn good,” praised Langtry, whose team trailed when the Blazers put the puck past goalie Melissa Payne 11 minutes into the first.
Fort High replied in the second when Carlee Bosma finished off a three-way set-up from Erica Tymkin and Erika Anderson.
On Saturday, the Muskies treated the shot clock like their own personal pinball machine, racking up 58 shots against the Garden Valley Collegiate Zodiacs from Winkler, Man.
This time around, the squad showed better accuracy when pulling the trigger, coming out with an easy 7-0 decision.
Jessica Taggart got the train rolling with the only goal of the first period before Anika McTavish and Jillian Langtry pumped in unassisted markers in the second to increase the advantage to 3-0.
The Zodiacs hung in gamely but collapsed in the third. Shae-Lynn Smith made it 4-0, followed by Taggart’s second of the night on the power play.
Smith set up Langtry for her second of the game, then completed a three-point period by scoring again to round out the night, with Langtry’s assist on the play giving her four points in the game.
Meanwhile, Payne’s only battle was with boredom as she earned the easiest shutout of her career by turning aside a mere four shots.
Then in the consolation final against the Westwood Warriors (Winnipeg), Bosma put Fort High in front 10 minutes into the first before the Warriors responded with one of their own to make it 1-1 after one.
The Warriors took a 2-1 lead seven minutes into the second, but then the Muskie offence revved up and found another gear in the final three minutes of the frame.
Langtry delivered a clutch short-handed goal to square the game. Dixon then put the black-and-gold in front to stay with 30 seconds remaining before Courtney Bethune parked a back-breaking goal with one second before intermission to put the Muskies up 4-2.
That drained the fight from the Warriors, who gave up third-period tallies to Smith, Langtry, Baker, and Danielle Jean while notching only a power-play goal of their own as Fort High dashed away with an 8-3 victory.
Cridland put in a strong effort to earn the win between the pipes.
The Muskies open the NorWOSSA regular season next Friday (Nov. 13) against the host Kenora Broncos.
