Muskies sweep Rams

If the proverbial brass monkey had been left outside Friday night in Cochenour, he surely would have had his tail frozen off.
The temperature outside fell to minus-52, but inside the Cochenour arena, the Muskie boys’ hockey team heated up the scoreboard in their best performance of the season so far.
Outshooting the host Red Lake Rams 43-16, the Muskies got on the board with 2:34 left in the first period as David Pierce cashed in on a rebound during a goalmouth scramble, with linemates Brett Meyers and Kevin Bobczynski drawing assists.
The floodgates opened at 11:04 of the second period as Pierce (Meyers and Bobczynski) made it 2-0, then it was Lucas Romaniuk (Josh Sigurdson) for a 3-0 lead.
Brock Benjamin (Pierce/Sigurdson) made it 4-0 on the power play before Tyler Pocock (Matt Redford) gave Fort High a 5-0 lead after two periods.
And it was all Muskies in the third as Sigurdson scored his first of two, from Alex McQuarrie and Mitchell Green, at 16:08.
Benjamin followed with his second of the night, grabbing an errant pass and bursting in alone to make it 7-0.
Tyler Miller, who gave the Rams fits all night along with linemates Brian White and Pocock, took a head-man pass and fired a quick shot through a screen for an 8-0 lead with 3:20 to play.
Sigurdson, with his fourth point of the night, then closed out the 9-0 romp with an assist from Romaniuk.
Muskie goalie Wade Friesen, although not tested often, made several great saves late in the game to preserve the shutout.
On Saturday morning, with frosty temperatures still prevailing outside, the boys had the look of contentment as they gobbled up massive plates of breakfast at the Balmer Inn restaurant.
The question was, would they still be hungry come game time?
That question was answered quickly as the black-and-gold pelted Red Lake goalie Matt Sidders with 22 shots in the first period alone.
Sidders—considered one of the top goalies in NorWOSSA, rebounded from an average performance Friday night and allowed just one goal in the first (Pierce from Meyers and Bobczynski).
Brett Perreault fired an unassisted marker early in the second to make it 2-0, then the line of Sigurdson, Romaniuk, and Benjamin, who combined for 11 points on the weekend, closed out the scoring with 20 seconds left in the second.
Romaniuk got the goal, with Sigurdson and Benjamin drawing assists.
Friesen once again earned the shutout in goal.
The final shout count was 47-14 for the Muskies, for a two-game total of 90-30.
The weekend sweep moved the Muskies to within three points of the first-place Dryden Eagles, with seven games left in the regular season.
The Eagles sport a 8-1-1-1 record through 11 games while the Muskies are now at 7-3-0-1.
Miller, meanwhile, moved into first place in the NorWOSSA scoring race with 14 points—one point ahead of Red Lake’s Shaun Bulawka.
The Muskies are back on home ice tomorrow night when they host the Kenora Broncos at 7:30 p.m. in the ’52 Canadians Arena (the girls play Kenora at 7:15 p.m. in the Ice for Kids Arena).
Both teams head to Dryden on Wednesday, then the girls head to Eveleth-Gilbert on Friday while the boys entertain Red Lake Falls here Saturday.