Joey Payeur
By the looks of things, the rest of NorWOSSA had better fear the Muskie girls’ hockey team like Michael Myers in a bad mood on Hallowe’en night in Haddonfield, Ill.
Taylor Croswell scored twice as Fort High skated to a convincing 4-1 win over the Dryden Eagles on Sunday afternoon to finish the second-annual Scott Clendenning Memorial Showcase undefeated with three wins and a tie.
Head coach Todd Hamilton wasn’t getting overly excited about drawing first blood against their staunchest league rival, whom the Muskies have beaten in the NorWOSSA final the past three seasons.
“It was Dryden’s first weekend of playing and they will be a much-improved team when we see them later in the year,” Hamilton warned.
“They always come out strong in NorWOSSA.
“They were, like we were, playing all four lines even, too,” he added.
“I’m sure when it’s a little tighter game later on, we will see more of their stronger players.”
The Muskies took control in the first period—led by the line of captain Janelle Kaemingh along with last season’s leading scorer, Annalise (CC) Hayes, and veteran winger Lauren Hamilton.
The trio scored twice while establishing themselves physically against an Eagles’ defence that seemed unable to contain them.
Kaemingh opened the scoring at 9:24, circling the net and coming all the way back out front before firing a wrister to the glove side of Eagles’ rookie goalie Jessie Pettinger.
On a later power play, Kaemingh set up behind Dryden’s net before centering to Hayes in the left circle, who wasted no time roofing a shot to Pettinger’s stick side at 12:05.
“Me and CC work well
together, and try and play real strong and smart,” noted Kaemingh.
“As for Lauren, she is always there for us and whatever side is open, she always makes the good pass to get us moving out of our end,” she added.
Jess Carter cut into the Muskies’ lead at 5:35 of the second by whipping a backhander between the pads of Sydney Beck.
Croswell made the play of the game to restore the two-goal lead at 12:31.
Lillie MacKinnon cleared the puck in along the boards and Croswell reeled it in, went one way, then stopped on a dime and reversed directions to leave Eagles’ defender Payton Boyko going the wrong way.
Croswell then powered her way around the net before wheeling in front and putting a quick shot past Pettinger.
“They were reading us as though we would always pass to the centre on that play, so I decided to walk out with it this time and shoot it and it worked out,” she grinned.
With Pettinger on the bench for an extra attacker, Siobhan Mackintosh poked the puck ahead to Croswell entering the Eagles’ zone, who popped it in the empty net with 37 seconds left to seal the deal.
“We need to work on our defence more because we give the puck away too easy sometimes,” admitted Todd Hamilton.
“But for it to be Oct. 30 and we’re nine games in, there are some good things happening,” he noted.
“And I’m excited because I don’t think we have played our best game yet.”
The Muskies opened the Showcase with a 5-1 triumph over the Thunder Bay Fury on Friday night.
After a scoreless first period, Croswell lit the lamp at 4:20 of the second on a neat play where she settled down a bouncing puck, put a quick deke on a Fury defender, and then buried it behind Faith Chambers.
Fort High then exploded for four goals in the third in less than three minutes.
Hayes stole the puck in the corner and unleashed a bullet backhander at 5:36, then set up Kaemingh at 6:53.
Croswell then made it 4-0 just 56 seconds later with a terrific solo effort before zinging a shot past Chambers.
Jillian Calder and Kelsey Langtry teamed up 21 seconds after Croswell goal, with Calder drilling home Langtry’s tape-to-tape feed.
Rookie goalie Kamryn Sandelovich came within 3:47 of a shutout, but was burned by a high floater through heavy traffic in front during a two-man advantage for the Fury.
The Fort then tied the always-tough Thunder Bay Queens 2-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Jenna Clendenning and Mackintosh gave the Muskies a 2-1 lead before the Queens tied it on a short-handed goal in the final minute against Sandelovich.
“We told the girls going out there we didn’t need to score, but they all decided to be over the red line waiting for the puck and that’s not the play in that situation,” Hamilton stressed.
“Lesson learned.”
An early goal by the Portage Collegiate Institute Saints (Portage la Prairie, Man.) on Saturday night was like gasoline tossed onto the fire as the Muskies responded with four goals in just over five minutes en route to a 6-3 victory.
Maddie Shwaluk’s power-play wrist shot eluded Beck at 5:24 of the first.
But before the P.A. announcer could utter that scoring play, Hayes roared down the ice off the subsequent face-off and tied it just nine seconds later.
Clendenning, Reece McQuaker, and Lauren Hamilton then scored to put Fort High up 4-1 after the opening frame.
The Saints struck just 21 seconds into the second on a tap-in by Morgan Parynuik, but Langtry was on the doorstep to put her own three-footer behind Haley Swidnicki after an initial shot by Calder at 5:07.
Calder got her second assist in the third when her shot was tipped home by Kaemingh.
PCI added a late power-play goal by Emma Mooney on a redirection.
Muskie rookie blueliner Alex Gartzke was in good spirits after the first games of her high school career on home ice.
“I was a little behind at first but I’m starting to make my way up, although I’m still making a few mistakes,” she conceded.
“Our team really knows how to get around people,” Gartzke added.
“We have got a lot of good stickhandlers on the team who know how to use it.”
Kaemingh liked what she saw from her crew as a whole.
“We got better as the weekend went on and worked on some things we have discussed lots of times,” she remarked.
“We talked about wanting to be strong in our own end and make sure to get the puck out and get the passes on the stick, especially in our own end,” she noted.
“Today, we did better with that and got it into our heads, and by the end of the season, we should have it down.”
Croswell highlighted the Muskies’ work on special teams as another positive.
“On the penalty kill, we did pretty good remembering to play our positions, not to totally attack, and keep it to the outside,” she said.
“As for our power play, we are doing a good job cycling the puck, getting shots on net, making clean passes between the defence, and pushing to the net for rebounds.”
Fort High now will get to hone its game during practice for the next couple of weeks before kicking off the NorWOSSA regular season with a two-game road series against the Sioux Lookout Warriors.
The Muskies’ home-opener is set for Nov. 22 at 7:15 p.m. at the ’52 Canadians Arena against the Kenora Broncos.
