Joey Payeur
If this edition of the Muskie girls’ hockey team ever wants to get into business putting on defensive clinics, they probably won’t have to worry about any other fundraising ventures the rest of the season.
The black-and-gold showcased their shutdown skills in championship fashion for the second-straight week, allowing only seven goals in six games en route to capturing the ninth-annual Fort Frances High School Girls’ Hockey Tournament.
The coup de grace came in Sunday afternoon’s 2-0 win over the Red Lake Rams in the gold-medal game, with the Muskies spending so much time in the Red Lake zone, the Rams could have charged the home team rent.
“Our defensive side was just as good as our offensive side this weekend,” noted Muskie captain Shelby Tymkin, who led the team with nine assists and 10 points during the tourney.
“I know this team is coming together,” she added. “We’ve got a lot to work on but the magic is starting to come back.”
Muskie forward Shilo Beck, who assisted on Amy Penner’s eventual game-winner, said reclaiming the title was sweet after losing the final of their home tourney last year in a heart-breaker to the Kenora Broncos.
“I thought we played good as a team, although we probably could have been a little bit crisper,” admitted Beck.
“Playing teams in this tournament that we’re going to face in NorWOSSA is very important,” she stressed.
“We want to set the tone for the season. We know it’s going to be pretty close all year.”
Penner’s tally 2:08 into the second was equal parts brilliant and bizarre.
The forward took a pass from Beck inside the Rams’ end and made a move back towards the blueline. Suddenly, Penner turned on a dime—causing the defender who was chasing her to fall down and allowing Penner to cut to the middle of the ice.
The Muskie sniper then unleashed a high, hard shot which hit the shoulder of Red Lake goalie Kelsey Pattison, who was heroic throughout the game to keep the score close.
The puck deflected into the air before bouncing behind Pattison and into the cage.
“We were getting pretty frustrated with having so many chances and not scoring in the first,” noted Penner, who finished the day with two game-winners after having achieved the feat that morning in their semi-final showdown against the Dryden Timberwolves.
“I was just trying to get a goal,” she remarked. “I thought [Pattison] had it.”
Only 2:01 later, after another in a string of great forechecking shifts by the Muskies, Jessica Coran burst from the left-wing boards with the puck after a feed from Penner and wired it past Pattison.
Kate Parsons was rarely tested in net by Red Lake, but stood her ground when she had to in recording the shutout.
“Amy works so hard and always come through for big goals for us, and Jessica had a great weekend, too,” lauded Muskie head coach Scott Clendenning, whose squad captured its season-opening tournament the previous weekend in Winnipeg at an event hosted by the Sturgeon Heights Huskies.
“Overall, we’ve got two solid goaltenders [Parsons and Calie Clendenning],” he said.
“We can count on either one of them for any situation.”
Clendenning was pleased with being able to confidently roll his three lines and three defence pairings, including a blueline duo featuring practice roster call-up Sydney Johnson, who filled in admirably for injured veteran Sarah Milling all weekend.
“When we’re at our best, all three lines are moving and the ‘D’ is clicking,” he noted.
“When we do that, we’re hard to play against.”
In the semi-finals Sunday morning, Fort High found itself in the same situation against Dryden as it had a day earlier—with a late third-period lead.
But unlike Saturday, when the Timberwolves scored with 2:15 left to eke out a 3-3 tie in Pool ‘A’ play, the Lakers held firm and preserved a 3-2 victory.
Penner showed more crash than flash on the Muskies’ third goal—charging the net and shovelling home a rebound of Beck’s original shot past Timberwolves’ goalie Jacquie Grandmont three minutes into the third to make it 3-1.
It proved to be a pivotal goal when Dryden’s Sydney Breutsch directed the puck forward on a face-off win and watched it deflect accidentally off the skate of Fort blueliner Alexis Perreault and in behind Calie Clendenning to trim the lead to one at 6:26.
But the Muskies unleashed a furious forechecking attack over the final three minutes—keyed by the line of Hailey Clendenning, Kaily Greengrass, and Claire Sandelovich, which didn’t allow the Timberwolves to pull Grandmont for an extra attacker until there was left than 30 seconds to go.
Katie Sinclair and Sandelovich had the other Muskie goals while Rachel Getson added a single for Dryden.
The Muskies began their title run Friday afternoon with a 12-0 romp over the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora), scoring four times in the first 2:12 of the game.
Amber Jourdain notched a hat trick while Katie Sinclair and Penner had a pair apiece.
Singles went to Beck, Greengrass, Sandelovich, Clendenning, and Rachel Jean, with Tymkin adding five assists and Calie Clendenning earning up the shutout.
Fort High’s offence then kept rolling in an 8-2 pasting of Sturgeon Heights that night.
Coran tallied twice while Greengrass, Tymkin, Sandelovich, Penner, Hailey Clendenning, and Jourdain netted singles against Huskies’ goalie Meagan Sawyer.
Parsons earned the win in net, giving up only a pair of second-period markers to Ashley Ross.
In the 3-3 tie with Dryden on Saturday, it was Penner (two) and Greengrass doing the damage while Coran added two assists.
Calie Clendenning got the win between the pipes.
Lyndsey Oliphant, Cassidy Hoedl, and Breutsch replied for Dryden, with Grandmont getting the call in net.
Dryden and the Muskies ended up with identical 2-0-1 records in Pool ‘A’ but Fort High was awarded first place based on goal differential.
That set up a quarter-final clash with the Sioux Lookout Warriors, who were fourth in Pool ‘B.’
And the outcome never in doubt in a 11-0 whitewashing by the Muskies, who jumped on the Warriors with another early-game explosion of four goals in the first 2:12.
Nine players had multiple-point outings for the Fort, led by four-point games from Beck (two goals/ two assists), Penner, and Perreault (both with one goal and three assists).
Jean also connected twice for the Muskies, with singles coming from Penner, Hailey Clendenning, Sinclair, Coran, Greengrass, and Johnson.
Parson secured the shutout in goal while Kyla Kulchiski suffered the loss.
The Muskies’ next game will be their final pre-season contest, when they head to Detroit Lakes, Mn. on Nov. 19 to face the Lakers.
The black-and-gold then will begin the NorWOSSA season here Nov. 21 against the Kenora Broncos, who won the bronze-medal game Sunday with a 5-4 win over Dryden.
