Muskies bounced at OFSAA

The Muskie boys’ hockey team failed to advance to the quarter-finals of the all-Ontarios in London, losing 7-0 to the fifth-seeded Our Lady of Mount Carmel Crusaders on Thursday night to finish in fourth place in Pool ‘D’ with a 1-2-1 record.
After a tie and loss on the first day of action Wednesday, the black-and-gold faced a pair of must-win games Thursday in order to have a shot at making the playoffs.
They accomplished part of their goal—downing the 20th-seeded Fr. John Redmond Redhawks 6-2 in the afternoon—but their hopes were dashed with the evening’s lopsided loss to the Crusaders.
David Pierce had four goals in the Muskies’ win over the Redhawks, including one short-handed and another on the power play.
Steven Sus and Justin Larson drew assists on Pierce’s first three goals, while Larson and Jordan Bale assisted on his last one.
Kurtis Wepruk (Josh Sigurdson/Brian White) and Greg Flewelling (Wepruk/Jacob Esselink) netted first-period goals for the Muskies, who were seeded fourth heading into the tournament.
Rookie Cody Wood earned the win in goal.
Head coach Shane Bliss was happy with his team’s effort against the Redhawks. “We moved our feet, put pressure on them all game,” he noted.
But it was a different story Thursday night against Mount Carmel—the two-time defending OFSAA champs. Jason Green replaced Wood for the third period, but by then it already was 5-0.
The Orangeville Bears and Leaside Lancers, who had tied and beaten the Muskies on Wednesday, respectively, wound up tied for first in Pool ‘D’ with six points apiece.
But the Bears were given top spot by virtue of their win over Leaside in pool play, though both teams advanced to the quarter-finals, which got underway Friday afternoon.
The Bears will face the St. Mary Monarchs while Leaside will play the St. Peter’s Saints.
The other quarter-final match-ups will see top-seeded St. Michael’s Double Blues versus the St. Aloysius Gonzaga Bulldogs while the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will face the St. Thomas of Villanova Wildcats.
The semi-finals, as well as the gold-medal and bronze-medal games, are slated for Saturday.