Dan Falloon
If hockey games were 40 minutes long, the Muskie girls’ hockey team would be off to the NorWOSSA final.
Unfortunately for the black-and-gold, games are at least 60 minutes—and that’s the one little detail that ended Fort High’s season.
The Muskies’ had jumped ahead of their semi-final opponent, the Kenora Broncos, after two periods in both the first two games of the best-of-three showdown.
But both times, the Broncos edged their way back in, triumphing 6-4 on Friday night in Kenora and then 6-5 in overtime here Sunday afternoon.
“It’s tough,” admitted head coach Mel Langtry, who was visually deflated by the loss.
“That’s been our Achilles heel all season and it came back on us today,” he lamented.
The Broncos’ comeback on Sunday was aided by an injury to Muskie starting goalie Melissa Payne at the end of the second period.
Payne hit the back of her neck on the crossbar before lying on the ice for nearly half-an-hour. Payne eventually was taken off on a stretcher, although Langtry said many of the steps taken were precautionary and that his netminder would be fine.
“[But] that was a major blow for us,” he sighed. “Kenora just drove to the net, hit her, she hit the post.”
Payne was the second Muskie to go down against the Broncos after Jessica Taggart sustained a concussion in Friday night’s loss.
The cruel irony for the black-and-gold is that the Muskies entered Friday night’s game icing a full lineup for the first time since December.
Erika Anderson and Alyssa Penner had returned to action just before the post-season began while a number of other players had missed time late in the season with minor injuries.
“It seemed that just when we were getting healthy, we got hurt again,” bemoaned Langtry.
In Friday’s opener, Danielle Jean scored twice while Jillian Langtry and Jessie Baker added singles. But it wasn’t enough as the Broncos stormed back for the 6-4 win, driven by Fort High’s penalty trouble.
“It was much the same story,” noted Langtry. “We had six penalties and two misconducts in the third period, and Kenora capitalized on that.”
Then on Sunday, Kenora got out to a 1-0 lead 6:19 into the first when Layne Lampshire got off a clean shot on the power play that beat Payne stick side.
That score remained for over a period until Langtry popped a rebound past Kenora goalie Stephanie Ferguson at 8:25.
Fort High then took the lead just over a minute later when Nicole Beadle redirected Anikka McTavish’s shot.
The Muskies showed off their quick-strike offence a little later in the frame as Langtry and Jean both got breakaways 1:23 apart and put the puck past Ferguson with nearly identical dekes to the stick side to give Fort High a 4-1 lead.
Kenora inched closer before the period was through, however, as Linnea Vaudry put a one-timer past Payne while on the power play at 17:27.
In the third, the Broncos showed no mercy to back-up goalie Dana Cridland, who had replaced Payne, scoring less than a minute into the third.
“That was the turning point of the game,” said Langtry.
Shae-lynn Smith tipped one past Ferguson midway through the frame to regain Fort High’s the two-goal advantage, but the Muskies then got into penalty trouble again.
Vaudry blasted her second of the game at 14:25, then the Broncos tied it off of a scramble at 16:33.
Moments before the equalizer, Erika Tymkin just missed snapping a shot through Ferguson’s five-hole.
Kenora secured the win 8:35 into overtime when Ainsley Lindquist drove one that flew over Cridland’s glove and into the back of the net for the 6-5 win.
The Broncos will face the winner of the semi-final showdown between Dryden and St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora), who played a winner-take-all Game 3 in Dryden last night (the outcome wasn’t known as of press time).
Aside from the late-game collapses, Langtry felt the Muskies had completed a successful season and will strive to improve next season.
“Overall, I’m very proud of the girls,” he enthused. “We had a lot of first-year players, and we’re sure they’ll develop next year.”
