Muskie girls win squeaker over Baudette

Sometimes the box score can be deceiving.
Despite dominating the majority of play, the Muskie girls’ hockey team skated to a narrow 2-1 victory over the Lake of the Woods Bears in exhibition action last night at the Ice for Kids Arena.
“The girls passed quite well,” coach Chris Hill said. “We just didn’t score.
“The [Baudette] goalie made a lot of saves. We hit the post, hit the cross bar, missed the net,” he added.
Despite the fact the Muskies did not capitalize on many of their scoring chances, Hill simply was happy to earn the victory.
“I’ll admit that we didn’t have the intensity that we’ve seen in other games but it’s good to get a win,” he remarked. “They passed the puck well, played well defensively and stuff.
“I guess if you keep doing that kind of stuff, you’re going to score. It’s not like we played badly,” Hill added.
Lauren Krukoski opened the scoring after receiving a pass from Erin Kaemingh. Kristen Penner later stretched the lead to 2-0 after she scored unassisted.
The Bears made a game of it, however, when they scored a weak goal late in the third period to cut the deficit to a goal.
“They scored on us with about six minutes left and we scrambled a bit,” Hill said. “It got a bit scary because we didn’t finish them off earlier in the game.”
Still, the black-and-gold were able to hang on.
Sarah Hoskins earned the win between the pipes.
In other Muskie girls’ hockey action from last week, the black-and-gold skated to a 4-4 tie in exhibition play against Babbitt on Friday night.
Taylor Meyers and Krukoski each netted a pair of goals for the Muskies in that one. Three of the four were unassisted, with Kimmy LaFleur drawing the lone helper on Krukoski’s second goal.
The Eveleth-Gilbert senior squad then beat the Muskies 3-1 in exhibition action Saturday afternoon.
Krukoski netted the lone goal for the Muskies while on the power play, assisted by Meyers and Cortney Caldwell.
The Muskie girls resume NorWOSSA action this Friday (Dec. 22) when they visit the Kenora Broncos.