Muskies beaten twice by Kings

It had been almost three months since the Muskie boys’ hockey team played the Thunder Bay Midget ‘AAA’ Kings but this past weekend’s results mirrored their first series from early November—two losses.
Saturday night’s game was a scoring spree as the final ended up being 8-5 for the visitors.
“If you make a mistake, it’s going to cost you out here versus other teams like Sioux Lookout or Pelican Falls, where you can make a 100 mistakes and still get a win, but you don’t learn anything from that,” said Muskie head coach Shane Bliss, referring to the Kings, who are all 15-years-old and with most being OHL prospects.
Jake Esselink started things off for the Muskies a little over a minute into the game with a shot from the point, with the assists going to Brian White and Tyler Miller.
The Kings answered four minutes later, which then was followed by Josh Sigurdson collecting a loose rebound in front from a shot by Matt Redford.
But the Kings then cashed in on three-straight goals in a span of 11 minutes to lead 4-2 heading into the second period.
(Muskie starting goalie Wade Friesen was pulled when the score was 3-2 in favour of Jason Green, who saw his first action as a Muskie this season).
Compared to the six-goal first period, the second was fairly quiet with White (Miller/Tyler Pocock) first finding the loose rebound with 10 minutes to go.
Then the Muskies then tied things up at 4-4 when Lucas Romaniuk (Brock Benjamin/Jordan Bale) found another loose rebound.
The Kings got one of those back before the end of the second period to lead 5-4, then scored three times in the third to the Muskies’ one to make the final 8-5.
“Sometimes we screwed up and gave up some two-on-ones and some breakaways, but we forechecked hard and went out there and just played our best,” said Brett Perreault, who scored with one minute left in the third to make it 7-5 on a pretty dangle play at the blueline.
The Kings would add an empty-netter 30 second later to ice the win.
“I like the boys’ work ethic,” said Bliss. “They always work hard, and thank God for that, because then it would be really frustrating, but it’s hard to see all that hard work result in a loss.
“It’s hard for me to watch because they’re out there working their butt off and it would be nice for them to get a win.”
But the Muskies wouldn’t get that win on Sunday afternoon, either, falling 5-1 to the visiting Kings.
The black-and-gold’s lone goal came early in the second period off the stick of Andrew Easton (assisted by Miller) to make the score 3-1 at the time.
But the Kings with two more goals in the second after scoring three times in the first.
“Basically we said that . . . every time you step on the ice, you hope you learn something, and I hope they did learn something from this weekend,” said Bliss.
“That team [the Kings] plays tough hockey, and plays hockey the way it was meant to be played,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Muskie girls’ hockey team also was in action here Saturday with an exhibition game against the Silver Bay Mariners.
The Mariners had to wait nine minutes to put their first shot on Muskie goalie Kim Pacarenuk as Fort High opened with a stifling presence on defence, which created opportunities offensively.
But it was the Mariners who got the game’s first goal with 10 seconds left in the first period.
The Mariners would add to their lead six minutes into the second period, but the Muskies answered to split the gap to 2-1. Sarah O’Sullivan got the goal, assisted by Hannah Firth.
But the Mariners battled back two minutes later to close the period leading 3-1.
Four minutes into the third, Miranda Kellar was able to bank a pass off the backboards deep in the Mariners’ zone to find a wide-open Katie McTavish, who, after a little hesitation, skated towards the left side of the goalie and went short-side.
But careless penalties late in the game prevented the Muskies from capitalizing on their momentum, which eventually resulted in an empty-netter by the Mariners to make the final 4-2.
“We’re happy with the way they played. The effort was there,” said coach Lynn Kellar. “They worked hard, and it wasn’t for lack of chances. For whatever reason, we’re just not finishing our chances.
“If the chances weren’t there, it would be one thing, but they are there,” Kellar stressed. “We’re creating them, we just got to finish.”
The Muskies will play their second-last homestand tomorrow (Tuesday) against the Kenora Broncos, with the boys going at 7:30 p.m. in the ‘52 Canadians Arena while the girls’ game gets underway at 7:15 p.m. in the Ice for Kids Arena.