Staff
Todd Hamilton left town for one game and his team got itself in the middle of a Wild West shootout.
The Muskie girls’ hockey team luckily had one more bullet in the chamber—the one Annalise (CC) Hayes fired home for the game-winner with 1:12 to go to lift Fort High to a 6-5 win over the host St. Thomas Aquinas Saints in NorWOSSA action last night.
With Hamilton was away with his daughter, Muskie veteran forward Lauren Hamilton, to explore her future university options, assistant coaches Tressa Galusha and Dave Kaemingh called time-out with 1:56 left to design what they hoped would be the decisive play.
Hayes subsequently passed the puck to captain Janelle Kaemingh, then zoomed in behind her as Kaemingh rushed into the Saints’ zone.
The Muskies’ leading scorer hollered for a drop pass, which Kaemingh did, allowing Hayes to wire a shot past goalie Sarah From.
The Saints (5-6), normally a team that struggles to score on the Muskies (10-1), found their scoring touch early against goalie Kamryn Sandelovich when Katie Marcine netted a power-play goal at 5:58 of the first.
Kaemingh tied it 36 seconds later, but St. Thomas wasn’t
discouraged and responded just 31 seconds after the equalizer on a tally by Kianna White.
Fort High began to take control later in the period, with Jillian Calder evening the score at 12:39 before Jenna Clendenning put the Muskies on top for the first time at 16:33.
The Saints’ power play clicked again in the second period as Marcine netted her second of the game.
After Taylor Croswell restored the lead at 4:19, assisted by Hayes, Calder notched her second of the night at 11:34 to make it 5-3.
But the Saints refused to roll over—tying the game before the end of the frame on goals by Chelsea Henderson and Seanna Cyncora to set up Hayes’ late-game heroics.
Muskie blueliner Alex Gartzke also missed last night’s game due to illness.
The league-leading Muskies are on the road again Monday to face the second-place Dryden Eagles (7-2).
