Muskies look superb despite losses

The host Dryden Eagles scored a pair of late goals to earn a narrow 4-2 win over the Muskie girls’ hockey team in NorWOSSA action last night.
Katie McTavish and Sarah O’Sullivan tallied in the losing cause.
What had started out so promising ended in another heartache (the black-and-gold lost to Dryden 4-3 in overtime the last time they clashed) as the team remains winless in NorWOSSA play after three games.
But just being able to compete last night after their lopsided 7-1 loss to the Kenora Broncos there last Thursday spoke volumes about the Muskies’ ability to refocus—and their desire to perform well.
Last Thursday in Kenora, as Kim Pacarenuk hobbled like an arthritic 80-year-old into the locker-room still fully armoured in her goalie gear, head coach Jim McMahon pulled aside three girls from the team.
The Muskies had just lost 7-1 but even in defeat, this trio—Miranda Kellar, Francine McCabe, and Deanna Saunders—showed winning form as they played every shift of every period with energy and commitment.
“The line that I was just talking to I think were our best line,” said McMahon, who noted that McCabe is the lone veteran of the three. “They went strong all night.”
The Muskies, who play the Red Lake Rams here next Friday and Saturday, had strutted into the game with a new-found confidence after a thrilling 2-1 exhibition win over the Baudette Bears earlier in the week.’
But that could have been their downfall, admitted McMahon, who believed the win might have gone to their heads.
“I don’t know if our veterans were mentally focused and prepared for this game,” he remarked. “[Perhaps] that game in Baudette led them to believe the hard work for the year was over and they had arrived, they were on a plateau and the rest was going to be a piece of cake?”
But the Muskies also headed into the game without four key players due to injury or commitment to basketball—Nina Bird, Mackenzie Caul, Katie McTavish, and Ashley Whalen.
And a 60-year-old former linebacker’s knees probably were in better shape than Pacarenuk’s.
After stopping 29 of Kenora’s 36 shots, Pacarenuk walked out of the dressing room and headed for the bus with her goalie stick converted into a walking stick because her knees didn’t have the strength to carry her without help.
“We appreciate what she does for us. She’s like our hero,” McCabe said of Pacarenuk’s gutsy performance against the Broncos.
“She saved our butts. She’s awesome. She played hard,” added Danielle O’Sullivan.
The game began with the Broncos, who have not lost to the Muskies for more than two seasons, maintaining constant pressure.
But the black-and-gold did well in not allowing a goal until a little over 12 minutes had passed in the first period, which saw the Broncos fire 17 shots at Pacarenuk while the Muskies only mustered four.
And although Kenora came out strong in the second period with three goals (one shorthanded), if a casual observer had arrived late to the game and didn’t look at the scoreboard, he would have thought the Muskies were ahead by four rather than behind by that margin as they countered with an attack that saw them rack up 15 shots while allowing only six.
“I think in the dressing room we talked more about the game, and what we could do better and we went out there and did that,” said O’Sullivan.
The Muskies dominated play in the second period with a consistent attack. And while it didn’t yield any goals, it did refocus them on the task at hand after a scrambly first period.
The only question was whether they would maintain that effort in the third?
They did, at first. But after eight minutes of play, the Muskies allowed three goals and 13 shots while taking only three themselves, including Muskie captain Kristen Roehrig’s goal assisted by Hannah Firth.
And even though they may have scored in the third period, the Muskies’ effort was a downshift from their second-period play—and left the team feeling disappointed after the lopsided loss.
“I think maybe in the second period our rookies decided to play. They didn’t necessarily wait for our veterans to step up,” said McMahon.
“[The rookies] don’t have to wait for [the veterans],” he added. “They can play their own games and they can play a strong game, and if the veterans don’t want to play, then we’ll go with rookie lines.”
“I’m pretty mad,” said O’Sullivan. “I didn’t play good, I think, but this year I think we can play with Kenora a lot more than last year.”
That sentiment was shared by McCabe.
“When they [Kenora] come to our ice, we’ll show them what we’re made of,” agreed McCabe.
Though angry with their performance in Kenora, the Muskies know the season is far from over—and realize they have the necessary tools to build a winning season.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Kenora, they are a good team, but at the same time so is that team in the room here,” McMahon said as he pointed around the dressing room filled with his players.
“Despite the losses we’ve had in the past, we have to be of the mindset that it’s time to even up the score,” he stressed. “I believe we have the team to do it. Again, it’s just focus and it’s going to be a question of leadership.”