Muskies blank Broncos Girls lose

Another chapter in the Muskies-Falls Broncos rivalry was written Friday night as the black-and-gold blanked the visitors 4-0.
“It was a real good win for the team, it was a real team-builder and a real good win form the home crowd,” said Muskie head coach Shane Bliss.
“We knew we were gonna be in for a tough game and the boys hung with them the whole time,” he added.
Kevin Bobczynski, Zach McCool, George Halverson, and Cody McCool all scored for the Muskies while Joe Basaraba added two assists.
David Moen earned the shutout between the pipes.
Bliss didn’t mince words when talking about the game, calling it “the best effort I’ve seen them have all year.”
It was a different story for the Muskie girls’ hockey team Friday as they came out on the short end of a 3-2 score.
Nicole Beadle scored in the second period for the Muskies while Lauren Krukoski netted one in the third.
“I didn’t think we played as well as we could,” said head coach Lynn Kellar. “It wasn’t for lack of effort, just fatigue, you know?
“Mistakes they wouldn’t normally make they were making.”
Katie Stearns manned the net—with Kellar insisting her play wasn’t what sunk the Muskies.
“She played all right,” he noted. “Overall, I think as a team we can play better. There wasn’t everybody that played poorly, but it was one of those games where we just didn’t have the energy we needed more than anything.”
The girls stumbled in their final game of 2007, recovering from injuries and other mild maladies, as well as the exhaustion from playing a number of tough games during December.
“A lot of the kids are still getting over stuff,” Kellar noted. “It’s just kind of hard to get excited when you just don’t feel good.”
Bliss, meanwhile, was pleased with what he termed a “huge” crowd, putting an estimate at around 1,000 lively hockey fans in the seats for the always much-anticipated rivalry.
The boys next head to a tournament in Duluth from Dec. 26-28, then resume NorWOSSA action with a game here Jan. 8 versus the Kenora Broncos.
The girls will be back on the ice Thursday evening when they hold a special alumni game at the Ice for Kids Arena.