Dan Falloon
The Muskie boys’ hockey team didn’t have much time to wallow in a wasted 3-0 lead en route to a 4-3 exhibition loss to International Falls here Boxing Day.
The black-and-gold were right back at it Monday in Duluth, blanking Proctor, Mn. 5-0 in the opener of the annual Hilltopper Holiday Classic tournament.
Devin Stromness earned the shutout in goal.
Muskie coach Shawn Jourdain stressed Monday’s game was an impressive effort from his squad.
“[There were] a lot of positives from last night’s game, so hopefully we’re heading in the right direction,” he said yesterday.
“It was just a solid team effort from the defence out.”
Jourdain said his forwards were rolling, as well, resulting in a bit of a mismatch for Proctor.
“Jeff Cridland had an unbelievable goal on a nice pass from [Colton] Spicer,” he recalled.
“Every line contributed last night [Monday], and that’s when we play our best hockey.”
Jourdain was pleased with the shutout after recently noting concerns about the team’s play in its own end.
“It’s not just our defence, it’s our forwards and supporting, and just little things that we did a little bit better yesterday [Monday] but not so good against the Falls the other night,” he said from Duluth.
Jourdain said the game against International Falls got off to a promising start, but Fort High coughed up a lead in part because of some penalty trouble.
“We were up 3-0 and then late in the second period, they had three or four power-plays,” he noted.
“They [the Broncos] kind of gained momentum from there and we just didn’t rebound well enough.”
An efficient attack had helped the black-and-gold stake out the lead, but couldn’t keep it going once the game started to turn in the Broncos’ favour.
“We just capitalized on the chances that we had,” said Jourdain. “We didn’t have a lot of chances, but we capitalized on the ones we did have.”
Matt DePiero, David Chambers, and Dustin Brown tallied in Saturday’s game while Brendan Cawston chipped in a pair of assists.
The Muskies were back on the ice last night against Edgewood of Madison, Wis. (the score wasn’t available at press time).
Jourdain admitted he didn’t know what to expect from them.
“We don’t know what they look like at all yet,” he remarked.
The Muskies then were set to face Appleton, Wis. this morning.
