Joey Payeur
The first three tasks were like picking cherries.
The tree got taller in a hurry with the last two, but the Muskie girls’ hockey team still climbed the ladder and tasted sweet victory.
Amber Jourdain scored twice in the third period to lift Fort High to a 3-1 win over the Dakota Collegiate Lancers in the final of the season-opening Husky Classic tournament hosted by Sturgeon Heights Collegiate in Winnipeg.
Hailey Clendenning, who led the black-and-gold in scoring during the tournament with six goals and six assists, had opened the scoring at 10:49 of the first.
After a scoreless second, Shelby Tymkin set up Jourdain, who crashed the net and jammed home a loose puck at 1:15 of the third to put the Muskies up 2-0.
The Lancers made it close when Ashten Vankoughnett scored at 5:25, but Jourdain iced the victory with just 34 seconds to go.
Calie Clendenning earned the win in goal for the Muskies, who went a perfect 5-0 while outscoring their opponents 31-3.
“[Dakota’s] goalie kept them in the game,” Muskie head coach Scott Clendenning said about Lancers’ netminder Sydney Urwin.
“Give her credit.
“I’m happy with the way we played,” he added. “Being our fifth game in three days, it wasn’t our best high-energy performance but it got us the win.”
Fort High strung together back-to-back convincing wins in the preliminary round to capture Pool ‘A’ before again cruising to victory in the quarter-finals.
The Springfield Sabres from Oakbank, Man. were the first victims of the Muskie barrage, falling 8-0 as Calie Clendenning recorded the shutout.
Amy Penner scored just eight seconds into the game and again later in the first period to start the offensive onslaught.
Jourdain notched a pair in the second before Mallory Payne, Shilo Beck, Claire Sandelovich, and Kaily Greengrass lit the lamp in the third against Sabres’ goalie Dana Schultz.
Fort High was even more dominating in a 10-0 rout of the St. Mary’s Academy Flames (Winnipeg) in their other Pool ‘A’ contest.
Hailey Clendenning exploded for five points in that one, including a hat trick against shellshocked Flames’ goalie Mary Chipman.
Greengrass, Beck, and Penner each struck for a pair of goals, with Sandelovich adding a single.
Kate Parsons blanked St. Mary’s between the pipes.
The win put the Muskies up against the host Sturgeon Heights Huskies in the quarter-finals, with a four-goal first period catapulting the black-and-gold to a 7-0 triumph.
Fort High owned the shot clock to the tune of a 39-6 edge, including scoring on all four shots against Huskies’ goalie Meagan Sawyer in the first and holding a 22-3 advantage in the second.
Sandelovich and Hailey Clendenning each scored twice and added an assist.
Jourdain, Greengrass, and Shelby Tymkin netted singles while Katie Sinclair had two helpers to support Calie Clendenning’s shutout in net.
In the semi-final against the Dryden Eagles, a slow start by the Muskies saw them give up their first goal, and fall behind for the first time in the tournament, when Jess Carter notched a power-play marker at 9:27 of the first.
That’s when Tymkin slung the Muskies on her back and took care of business. First, she connected on the power play on a set-up from Lauren Vold at 2:30 of the second to tie the score.
Then at 5:12, Tymkin caused more havoc with a short-handed goal on a play started by Hailey Clendenning to put the Muskies up 2-1.
Dryden fought back in the third, with Liv Carter’s man-advantage marker at 6:55 putting the Eagles on even terms again.
But nobody was raining on Tymkin’s parade, who finished a hat-trick outing with another power-play tally, assisted by Payne and Sinclair, with 3:29 left to send Fort High into the final.
“Everything is a learning experience,” Scott Clendenning said, referring to the Muskies getting pushed to the limit.
“When you play three periods of hard-nosed hockey, you get rewarded,” he noted. “But we came out flat in the first and paid for it.
“Then we came on in the second and third, and did what we needed to do.”
Parsons stopped 16 shots for the win while C.J. Jolicoeur made 26 saves for Dryden in a losing effort.
The only down note of the weekend for the Muskies was the loss of veteran blueliner Sarah Milling, who suffered a broken finger after having a slapshot go off her hand that’s expected to keep her out two weeks.
That means Milling will be unavailable for Fort High’s annual home tournament this weekend, when eight teams will vie for the title.
Pool ‘A’ will consist of the Muskies, Sturgeon Heights, the Dryden Timberwolves, and the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora).
Pool ‘B’ includes the Kenora Broncos, Red Lake Rams, Sioux Lookout Warriors, and the Miles Macdonell Buckeyes (Winnipeg).
Fort High will open the tourney Friday at 1 p.m. against St. Thomas Aquinas, then will face Sturgeon Heights at 6:45 p.m. following the opening ceremonies, which will feature the theme of “Pink in the Rink.”
For the fifth time, representatives of the local Breast Health Network will be on hand to help with the ceremonies, and some players are planning to use pink hockey tape and skate laces during the game.
The Muskies then will close the preliminary round Saturday at 10 a.m. against the Timberwolves.
The quarter-finals are set for Saturday at 4 p.m., with the bronze-medal game going Sunday at 1 p.m.
The gold-medal game will follow at 2:30 p.m.
