Dan Falloon
At least the Muskie boys’ hockey team is resilient.
Even though the black-and-gold turned in a pair of performances that were below expectations last week, they showed their mettle by fending off a losing streak.
Fort High fell 4-1 to visiting International Falls on Jan. 5, but bounced back with a 2-1 victory over the host Greenway Raiders on Thursday night.
After last night’s exhibition game against Baudette (the score was unavailable at press time), though, the Muskies were planning to take a five-day break to help rest some of the tired and aching bodies.
Fatigue began to show against the Falls as the Muskies came into the game looking to avenge a 4-3 loss on Boxing Day.
As such, Fort High picked an inopportune time to play “one of our worst games of the year,” according to coach Shawn Jourdain.
“We just didn’t play well,” he stressed. “It wasn’t the time to play like that.”
While Jourdain was relatively pleased with the play of goalie Devin Stromness, he maintained the team’s overall play was unacceptable.
“The only thing that went well was our goaltending that night, but like I say, all around, it wasn’t one of our best efforts,” he remarked.
“Our own zone, the neutral zone,” he noted. “The only positive was that we got below the red line, we tended to put some pressure on them.
“But all over the ice, we weren’t that good, I think,” Jourdain added.
The Muskies trailed 1-0 after the first period, with the Broncos effectively sealing the win early in the second when Stromness was beaten twice in the first two-and-a-half minutes.
Devin Ball had the best chance to respond, leading the charge on a breakaway, but Broncos’ goalie Mike Hart stood tall on Ball’s shot and disposed of a rebound.
Dustin Brown also had a golden opportunity to score when a puck was stopped for him point-blank with Hart sliding the other way.
But Hart again got the best of the black-and-gold, stoning Brown.
Ball would not be denied a second time, however, roofing a rebound off a Nathan Calder blast over Hart 11:50 into the second to bring Fort High to within 3-1.
The Broncos added another early in the third to ice the victory.
Jourdain chalked up the lacklustre performance in Thursday night’s 2-1 win over Greenway to fatigue. The Muskies had scorched the Raiders 8-0 here just five days earlier.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey here the past three months,” he said. “We’ll try to recharge our batteries.”
Jourdain said he didn’t know what to expect from Baudette heading into last night’s game as the teams haven’t faced off in a while.
“We should try to dictate how the play is. That’s what we’re really worried about,” he remarked.
