Staff
A few moments of weakness overtook the Muskie girls’ hockey team here Saturday night.
The visiting Kenora Broncos scored five of their six goals in quick bursts, getting their first two in a 2:27 span before tallying three more in 4:31, en route to a wild 6-5 victory.
With the win, the Broncos took over sole possession of second place in NorWOSSA’s ‘AA’ division, dropping the Muskies to third.
The two teams meet again in Kenora this Friday (Feb. 19).
The Muskies had gotten the weekend off to a good start by pounding the Sioux Lookout Warriors 8-1 on Friday night in Emo.
And again on Saturday, Fort High got off to a strong start as Jillian Langtry struck just 1:31 into the game.
After forcing a turnover in the Broncos’ zone, Shae-lynn Smith centered to Langtry, who fired one past Kenora goalie Stephanie Ferguson.
The Muskies then went up 2-0 just over three minutes later when Anikka McTavish’s slapper beat Ferguson upstairs.
Kenora got on the board less than a minute later, though, when Erica Johnson snapped one past Muskie goalie Dana Cridland at 5:20.
The Broncos then drew even at 7:47 when Ainsley Lindquist sent an innocent-looking shot towards Cridland, but the puck ended up in the net after a couple of caroms.
In the second, Fort High again took the lead when Jessie Baker, fresh out of the penalty box, gathered a centering pass from Kimmy LaFleur and snuck it past Ferguson at 5:43.
The black-and-gold regained their two-goal cushion at 9:11 as Langtry went coast-to-coast, putting a perfectly-placed wrister behind Ferguson.
Cridland was forced to be sharp in the second—gloving a shot from Rylee Meisner before robbing Sam Smith on a backhand from point-blank range.
But Kenora knotted things quickly in the third.
Johnson got things started when she slid her second of the game past Cridland at 4:49 while Lindquist’s second of the night—a slapper—came 66 seconds later.
The Broncos then snagged their first lead of the game at 9:20 when Smith got her revenge, tapping a rebound past Cridland to make it 5-4.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Baker netted her second of the night 40 seconds later—firing a shot from an impossible angle to Ferguson’s right that found its way through the goalie’s legs.
Both goalies came up big late in the third as Cridland gloved a one-timer from Kenora defender Linnea Vaudry while Ferguson stoned Carlee Bosma from in close.
But Lindquist completed her hat trick with only 2:47 to go, putting a routine shot on net that eluded Cridland to secure the 6-5 win.
Against Sioux Lookout on Friday in Emo, Fort High buried the Warriors quickly.
Bosma kicked things off with an impressive marker at 4:51 of the first, breaking through a pair of Warriors before deking out goalie Dianne Kanate.
Bosma struck again just 19 seconds later, wristing a bullet over Kanate’s shoulder.
Ericka Tymkin boosted the lead to 3-0 at 9:24 when she slipped a bad-angle shot behind Kanate.
Langtry rounded out the first-period scoring, taking a pass from Smith and backhanding one past Kanate at the 18-minute mark.
Muskie goalie Melissa Payne was on when needed, meanwhile, getting her blocker on a last-minute blast by Roberta Manakwa.
In the second, Baker bumped the lead to 5-0 at 4:03 before Courtney Bethune hammered one off the iron and in about five minutes later.
In the closing frame, Bethune notched her second of the game when a floater beat Warriors’ relief goalie Doris Winter at 2:53.
The Muskies’ scoring was complete when a failed clearing pass made its way to Jessica Taggart, who pumped it past Winter at 6:37.
Manakwa got the Warriors on the board with 40 seconds to go, squeaking one through Payne’s five-hole.
The black-and-gold are back on the tonight when they face off against the first-place Eagles in Dryden.
