Joey Payeur
It may have been the best 10-minute misconduct Graeme Kitt ever took.
The Muskies rallied to their teammate’s defence by scoring three times in the final five minutes of the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over the visiting St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) in NorWOSSA boys’ hockey action last night.
Following a hard hit received along the boards from Liam Wheatstone, Kitt voiced his displeasure about the lack of a penalty call on the play—leading to his extended stay in the sin bin with the black-and-gold trailing 2-1.
But only 37 seconds later, Chase McGuire tucked home the rebound of Jarred Taylor’s shot to even the contest.
Then after Taylor scored on back-to-back breakaways in a span of 1:52, Fort High (3-0) was up 4-2 and ended up scoring five unanswered goals to lock down the win against the Saints (1-2).
“We started playing better at the start of the second, we just weren’t capitalizing on our chances,” noted Muskie head coach Jamie Davis.
Taylor used a deke to beat Saints’ goalie Brandon Scott five-hole at 17:25 of the second, then stole the puck at centre ice and walked in before again fooling Scott with another deke at 19:17.
“That move I used on the first one, I’m 3-for-3 this year with it so far,” grinned Taylor, who rejoined the Muskies just over two weeks ago after starting the season with the Fort Frances Lakers in the SIJHL.
“If you slide over, the goalie is going to slide over and it’s going to open up the five-hole,” he explained.
After Mike Drouin’s power-play marker at 1:43 of the third, Taylor completed a four-point night by racing behind the Saints’ net and centering the puck to McGuire, who one-timed the puck home at 4:36.
Kitt scored in the first period for the Muskies while Jordan Carlson earned the win between the pipes.
David Snyder’s first-period breakaway marker at 1:36 gave the Saints the early lead.
Jesse Rush later converted a feed from Marc Belanger at 16:45 of the opening frame for the visitors’ other marker.
The Muskies next head to Hallock, Mn. on Tuesday for an exhibition game against the Kittson Central Bearcats, who edged Fort High 3-2 in a shootout here last season.
The black-and-gold’s next home game is slated for Friday, Dec. 5 against the Dryden Eagles.
Meanwhile, in NorWOSSA girls’ hockey action last night, the Muskies trounced the host Kenora Broncos 14-2.
After getting a baker’s dozen on Sunday against the host Sioux Lookout Warriors in their regular-season opener, the black-and-gold went one better on the scoreboard to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Annalise Hayes had a hat trick to make it nine goals in two NorWOSSA game for the Grade 9 rookie.
Kaily Greengrass, Amy Penner, Jessica Coran, and Taylor Croswell each lit the lamp twice last night while Rylee Redford, Mallory Payne, and Claire Sandelovich added singles.
Calie Clendenning earned the win in goal.
Rylee Smith and Hilary Moncrief scored for the Broncos.
Fort High travels to Silver Bay, Mn. tomorrow to face the Kelley High School Mariners in exhibition action.
Their next home game is set for Monday, Dec. 8 against Dryden.
