Fusion 14U have strong showing at festival

The Flathead Fusion girls 14U hockey team hosted a festival at the recently opened Woodland Park ice rink in Kalispell this past weekend, enjoying near perfect conditions for opening weekend games.

Participating teams included Missoula Bruins, Moscow Polar Bears, Glasgow Ice Dawgs and the Bozeman Ice Dogs.

The Fusion opened the festival in a rematch of the 2017 state championship game against Moscow and came away with a hard fought 5-4 win on Friday evening.

The next morning the Fusion girls took a 10-3 loss to Bozeman, dominating in shots on goal but unable to finish at the net.

Later that afternoon scoring wasn’t an issue, as they defeated the Missoula Bruins 11-2. The Lady Fusion finished the weekend playing a very strong game against the powerhouse and undefeated Glasgow team, allowing only 2 goals, the best defensive performance of the weekend against the Ice Dawgs.

Goals over the weekend came from Nya Barber-Castro (5), Grace Droskowski and Lexi Kersten (4 each), Emma Cummings (2) and Courtney Klemann, Josie Voeller, Elizabeth Spradlin and Piper Linsom. Providing assists were Barber-Castro and Kersten with three each; Cummings, Klemann, Voeller, Droskowski, Linsom and Kyndle DeMarco also added assists of their own.

Goalies Piper Linsom (33 saves facing 47 shots) and Courtney Klemann (45 saves on 49 shots) shared time in net for the Lady Fusion.

Next up for the 14U Fusion is a tournament in Moscow, Idaho on Dec. 15-17.

The Fusion 14U are coached by Cassie VandeVrede, Lini Reading, Dave Casto and goalie coach Sage Staven.