Jamie Mountain
Sometimes the breaks just don’t go your way–as the Muskie boys’ hockey team learned first-hand in Winnipeg over the weekend.
The squad won its first three games before falling 2-1 to the Sturgeon Heights Huskies on Sunday in the championship game of the annual Piper Classic tournament.
“[What] I like the most, probably, was the way we came together as a team and bought into what was asked and, without complaint, did our best to do so for the betterment of the team and for that, the guys were rewarded,” said head coach Jordan Sinclair.
“We competed very hard and had our fair share of chances to win, and were on the wrong side of a couple tough calls,” he added.
The black-and-gold opened play Friday with a 6-0 shutout over the Shaftesbury Titans.
Eric Pitkanen paced the Muskies with a hat trick while Darian Klem earned the shutout.
Fort High then cruised to an 11-1 win over the Lorette Scorpions.
In Saturday’s semi-final, the Muskies came through with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory against the Lord Selkirk Rebels to set up Sunday’s showdown against the Huskies.
Pitkanen, Jon Busch, and Byron Stewart all were selected to the tournament all-star team.
“I thought everyone had a good weekend [and] each player should feel good about there efforts,” Sinclair enthused.
“I thought Eric Pitkanen, Jon Busch, and Byron Stewart all stepped up their game and were deservedly named to the tournament’s all-star team.
“[There were] many unsung heros for us, such as Jake Barker, Kayden Nelson, Mike Ward,” he added.
“And all the ‘D’ were instrumental in killing off a four-minute power play at the end of regulation in the semi-final game that helped propel us to getting a big win.
“I also can’t say enough again about ‘Klemmer’ [Darian Klem],” Sinclair lauded. “He’s been our backbone and had a big-time weekend.
“But truly, [it] was a total team effort and all the credit to those guys in the room.”
The Muskies, who are 8-0 in NorWOSSA play, were back in league action last night against the visiting St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora), with the outcome not known as of press time.
Then they are set to visit the Dryden Eagles tomorrow in a make-up game for the one that was postponed back on Dec. 5 before capping the week by hosting the Red Lake Rams on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Sinclair believes focusing on the task at hand will be key for the squad in its attempt to stay successful as the regular season winds down.
“I think the biggest key for us is going to be keep playing the right way and working to get better,” he remarked.
“We just saw what buying in and a total team effort can accomplish, now we need to stay hungry.
“It’ll be my job to make sure we don’t get comfortable or complacent, with just one good weekend, but to make sure we keep pushing forward,” Sinclair stressed.
“If we do that, I have no doubt we will continue to be successful and give ourselves a good opportunity to continue to win games.”
