Joey Payeur
Two weekends, two tournaments, two cities, two gold medals.
It was another Sunday afternoon celebration for the Muskie girls’ hockey team, which blanked the Red Lake Rams 2-0 yesterday at the Ice For Kids Arena in the final of the ninth-annual Fort Frances High School Girls’ Hockey Tournament.
Forward Amy Penner, who netted the game-winner in a 3-2 semi-final victory over the Dryden Timberwolves earlier yesterday, made it 2-for-2 in that department by breaking a scoreless tie 2:08 into the second period to give Fort High all the offence it needed.
“We were getting pretty frustrated with having so many chances and not scoring in the first,” noted Penner.
“We knew were going to break through at some time,” she added.
“We just had to wait for the right moment.”
Jessica Coran padded the lead a tick past two minutes later and Kate Parsons made the lead stand up with a shutout effort in goal.
“When we’re at our best, all three lines are moving and the ‘D’ is clicking,” said Muskie head coach Scott Clendenning, whose squad captured the Sturgeon Heights Huskies tournament to open the season the previous weekend in Winnipeg.
“When we do that, we’re hard to play against,” he noted.
The black-and-gold opened the tournament with a 12-0 annihilation of the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) on Friday afternoon, then dumped Sturgeon Heights 8-2 that night.
Holding a 3-2 lead late in the third period Saturday against Dryden, the Muskies surrendered the equalizer with 2:15 to go and settled for a 3-3 tie.
Dryden then won its final round-robin game to match the Fort’s 2-0-1 record, but the Muskies earned first place over Dryden in Pool ‘A’ based on goal differential.
That put Fort High against the Sioux Lookout Warriors in the quarter-finals, with the hosts cruising to an easy 11-0 victory.
The Muskies now get a break from action until Nov. 19, when they travel to Detroit Lakes, Mn. for an exhibition game against the Lakers.
Fort High then opens its NorWOSSA schedule here Nov. 21 against the Kenora Broncos.
