Muskie girls split with pair of Bears’ squads

The Muskies girls’ hockey team had an “un-bear-able” week while visiting Rainy River and hosting Eveleth for a pair of exhibition games.
First, they had to rally for a 5-4 victory over the Lake of the Woods Bears on Thursday night in Rainy River, then fell 3-1 to the Golden Bears here Saturday afternoon.
“They didn’t really play with a sense of urgency, maybe even took it lightly,” Muskie head coach Lynn Kellar said about the game against Lake of the Woods, although his words fit in just as well when describing their loss Saturday to Eveleth.
“They thought they didn’t have to put the full effort in.”
The Bears—meeting the Muskies just across the border from their home in Baudette, Mn.—scored the first goal and led 4-2 after the second period before the Muskies took over the game with three unanswered goals in the third.
Kristen Penner led the way with two goals and two assists. Nina Bird also netted a pair of goals, along with an assist, while Lauren Krukoski added the other goal.
Sara Trendiak started the game between the pipes but was spelled after the fourth goal by a solid Katie Stearns.
But the black-and-gold couldn’t manage any comeback when hosting the Eveleth Golden Bears at the ’52 Canadians Arena on Saturday.
While the Muskies looked every bit the Bears’ physical equal in a surprisingly rough girls’ exhibition game, they seemed unprepared and played some of their worst hockey on 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,” Kellar said. “We just couldn’t finish.”
The Muskies found themselves in a hole early, with Eveleth’s Kayla Moe scoring five minutes into the game and Maari Benda adding one later to lead 2-0 at intermission.
But what should have been an easy hill to climb, for a team loaded with scoring power like the Muskies, instead proved impossible as the players looked lost and traded aimless passes throughout the first and second periods.
Anderson’s goal, from Lindsey Roehrig and Penner, in the third finally shook the girls out of their funk, but all too late. The girls pressed hard but were held off long enough for Bears’ captain Megan Seppi to score on the power play to ice the victory.
“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 girls’ 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 also was a factor Saturday as she kept the Muskies at bay through their rare chances in the early going and then their furious assault in the third.
Moberg also looked better than her counterpart Stearns, who seemed to follow the team’s lead and start slow rather than carry it through the first period.
While it won’t be a fondly-remembered week, the Muskies did manage to improve their game in at least a couple of facets.
Kellar praised the girls’ fundamental play against Baudette, saying they “moved the puck extremely well” and was pleased to see more traffic in front of the opponent’s net.
Indeed, Anderson’s goal was clean but stoppable, but Moberg’s view was thoroughly obstructed by a number of Muskie and Golden Bear girls blocking her line of sight.
Penner said another element of the girls’ game got an overhaul—they’re starting to change their quiet reputation.
“We started kind of cheering each other on more and getting more motivated,” she noted, after some encouragement from the coaches a week before.
Penner said despite the team’s play, it’s made for a better playing environment “’cause it’s not negative. It’s all good stuff. . . .
“If you get good feedback, you’ll go out there and do it again,” she reasoned.
The Muskie girls resumed NorWOSSA play here last night against the Dryden Eagles, then will host a pair of exhibition games this Friday and Saturday against the Altona Aces.