Mitch Calvert
The snow is all but melted and that only can mean one thing: Muskie soccer season has arrived.
Actually, the boys’ team has been practising on the pitch for several weeks now (even when a layer of snow still remained) and are hoping to improve on last season’s loss to the Kenora Broncos in the NorWOSSA final.
“The goal every year is to make it to OFSAA and then see what you can do there,” Muskie head coach Shane Beckett noted.
“I think we have a real legitimate shot at it this year with the returning experience we have, along with the young talent we have who can come off the bench.
“It’s all about winning on the last day of the season in this league and peaking on May 27 [the NorWOSSA final to be held in Fort Frances],” Beckett stressed.
That mix of veteran leadership, including striker Mitch Cain and keeper Matt DePiero, blends well with an influx of young blood, including five ninth-graders.
“Our starting 11 guys are going to be strong because I knew what we were getting, but the young talent has been so surprising,” Beckett lauded. “I can’t believe how difficult it was to select the team.
“I typically keep about 20 guys, but I kept 22 because I couldn’t justify making that cut,” he added. “And we kept five Grade 9s, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before.”
Those five include Donovan Cousineau, Gavin Moorhouse, Brett McMahon, Brandon Sinclair, and Bryce Knapp.
“These guys are bringing their knowledge of other sports and transferring it here,” Beckett explained. “They’re athletes and now we just have to teach them about soccer, and we are pretty excited about what they can bring.”
Meanwhile, another pair of veterans who will be counted on this season are fifth-year returnees Garnet Cornell and Kyle Herr.
“Getting back two fifth-year guys is a good asset for us,” Beckett enthused. “To have two guys who have been in the program already for four years will help those young guys along.”
Beckett also welcomed assistant coach Olaf Ruppenstein to the team this season, hoping his knowledge of the sport will help spark a Muskie offence that has struggled to score goals in recent years.
“We’re trying to adopt some new stuff, system-wise, that a lot of the older guys haven’t seen before,” he noted. “[We’re] using assistant coach Olaf Ruppenstein and his offensive talents to try to help us put the balls in the net, which has been trouble for us the last three years.”
DePiero, a centre in hockey and a running back in football, said there are some similarities in each.
“You get kind of the aggressive, forechecking part of hockey like when the defenders are coming down on you or going for a free ball, and you want to be aggressive and get in there,” he remarked.
“It’s just like football in that way.”
DePiero agreed the squad looks to be a little deeper than the one that suited up a year ago.
“We have a really good mix this year, and I think it’s going to be a strong team,” he said. “It’ll be hard to tell until we get some exhibition games in, but so far we look really strong.”
The black-and-gold won’t have to wait long to get into game action as the team is off to Winnipeg this weekend for a tournament hosted by St. John’s-Ravenscourt.
“We’ve been doing it since I was in Grade 9 [in 1988],” Beckett said of the annual exhibition tourney.
“Last year our first game was against St. Paul’s and they had just come off a 17-day European tour, so we were their 12th game of the season and it was 4-1 the final,” he recalled.
“We were pretty happy with that because they beat us 11-0 the year before.”
Beckett also said the tournament is a good tune-up for the short NorWOSSA season, allowing the players to square off against teams other than Kenora and Dryden.
“You get to see some good talent, but by the end of the tournament, you are playing teams more on your level so you can really assess where you are at and what you need to work on,” Beckett explained.
“It’s a great tournament for us.”
As noted, this year’s NorWOSSA playoffs will be played here May 27, with the ultimate goal being a trip to the all-Ontarios in Hamilton during the first week of June.
