Muskie boys seek playoff upset

After their emotional rally to make the playoffs, the surging Muskie boys’ hockey team will have to bear down even more as they begin their best-of-three NorWOSSA semi-final Friday night against the first-place Dryden Eagles.
The black-and-gold are on a high after Tuesday’s 3-2 win in their regular-season finale against Dryden here. They also won three of their last five league games to overtake the Sioux Lookout Warriors for the fourth-and-final playoff spot.
Muskie assistant coach Ken Christiansen said he hopes that confidence carries over into the weekend.
“We knew we wanted to get some momentum heading into this series,” said Christiansen, who has been filling in for head coach Glen Edwards, whose wife, Carol, passed away earlier this week.
“I wanted to have Dryden thinking, ‘This team can beat us’ and start worrying about us,” he added.
Game 2 will be played Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Memorial Sports Centre here, with Game 3, if necessary, back in Dryden on Tuesday.
The winner will meet the winner of the Kenora Bronco-Red Lake Rams semi-final series in the best-of-three NorWOSSA final—with a trip to the all-Ontarios on the line.
The Muskie boys finished league play at 4-10-2—the first time the black-and-gold have had a sub .500 record since at least 1980, according to former Muskie head coach Terry Ogden.
But Christiansen said his team has built the necessary momentum to go toe-to-toe with the Eagles.
“We’re young. I hate to keep saying that but it was hard to get that momentum to be consistent,” he remarked. “It takes maturity to do that. These kids are starting to come around.
“Glen and I had confidence in this team all year-round,” he added.
Forwards Jamie Krukoski, Terry Kellar, and Jordan Shannon have stepped up as the top line recently, with Shannon and Krukoski having scored game-winners in the Muskies’ last two wins.
Veterans Nathan Miller, Lorne Koski, and Jon Woodgate also will be looked on to provide leadership.
Goalie Mathew Gamsby has had the most success against the Eagles this season and should get the majority of time between the pipes over backup John Zub.
Meanwhile, the Eagles (13-2-1) have the best offence in the league, including five players in NorWOSSA’s top 10 in scoring. They’ve led the standings wire-to-wire.
But Eagles head coach Darryl Mousseau said his team should be cautious of the Muskies’ recent success.
“If we come out like we did [Tuesday], the Muskies will give us a run,” he admitted. “Nothing is cast in stone that we’ll beat them so we’ll take what happens tonight and build from it.”
The Eagles have dominated the Muskies at the Dryden Recreation Centre with 10-0 and 7-1 wins this season. The Muskies are 1-0-1 against them here.
That home-ice advantage could be the difference in this series. Christiansen expects a fired-up Eagles team to come out firing from all angles tonight.
“I know they’re going to come out hard at us in their building. It’s going to be a real battle for sure on Friday,” he remarked.