Gordon Anderson
The Muskies came a long way to learn a few hard lessons about hockey in the rest of the province.
The black-and-gold, seeded 13th in the 20-team field, finished with an 0-4 record after losing 5-1 to the 20th-ranked Holy Cross Crusaders (Kingston) this morning to wrap up Group ‘A’ play at the OFSAA ‘AAA/AAAA’ hockey championship in Toronto.
Fort High finished the tournament with just seven goals for, 22 against, two power-goals scored, and three short-handed goals surrendered.
Head coach Shawn Jourdain didn’t mince words when he said his team just isn’t ready to compete against squads of this quality.
“The teams down here are at a different level than what we play back home and that’s the bottom line,” he remarked.
“There are better hockey teams here.”
“There were some good things and bad things,” Robbie Rea said about the Muskies’ showing in their four games.
“We could have played a lot better against some of the teams down here,” he noted.
“Even today, we could have had a closer game that what it was.”
Going into the game, the Crusaders weren’t setting the world on fire, either. They had surrendered 18 goals, second worst in the tourney, while only scoring four in their first three games.
But the Muskies only were able to squeeze one past Crusaders’ goalie Christian Richardson when Rea ripped a wrist shot, short side, with 8:41 to play.
So, what did the team learn about themselves at the tournament?
“[That] you always have to come to play,” said Rea. “Everybody down here is better than what we’re used to back home and the pace is a lot faster than what we’re used to.
“We just have to come more prepared next time,” he reasoned.
“I hope they learned what it takes to compete down here,” Jourdain said.
The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead at 3:34 of the first when Brandon Verkerk converted on the back end of a two-on-one.
It marked the fourth time the Muskies yielded the opening goal.
“It’s a big downer when you know you’re down 1-0 in the game,” noted Rea.
“Some guys put their heads down, like they want to give up.
“After a goal is scored against, everyone should be going even harder,” he stressed.
Fort High gave up a short-handed goal at 5:42 of the first when Francesco Vilardi took two swipes at a rebound before the third one went in.
Two goals by the Crusaders in the second put the game out of reach.
Brody Taylor made it 3-0 with 6:55 gone before Lucas Arsenault-Ball made it 4-0 with 12 seconds on the clock.
After Rea spoiled Richardson’s shutout bid just past the midway point of the third, Graham Rosa closed out the scoring with 4:51 to go.
