Muskies win second game at OFSAA

The absorbing and engrossing speech by former NHL star Adam Graves at the OFSAA banquet last night must have struck a chord with the Muskies.
The black-and-gold were able to keep a firm hold of their wits, and showed nerves of steel, as they beat the 16th-ranked Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks 3-1 this morning to improve to 2-0 at the all-Ontarios.
The Muskies got on the scoreboard first when Tyson Romyn dug the puck out from the boards in the Golden Hawks’ end, used his strength to skate to the front of the net, and then made a nifty backhand pass to linemate Brett Meyers who was trailing the play.
Fort High made it 2-0 with 25 seconds left in the opening 15-minute period when Tyler Miller wired a shot from the slot (unassisted).
The Muskies got sloppy at times in the second period, which led to a Golden Hawks’ breakaway chance with 2:33 left that beat a sprawling Jason Green to cut the margin to 2-1.
But Kevin Bobczynski, playing in his first game of the tournament for the Muskies, sealed the win with 11:36 left in regulation time when he pounced on the puck on the doorstep of the Golden Hawks’ goal.
Jordan Bale and Brian Vargas drew assists.
Green once again had a solid performance in goal for the Muskies, who faced the top-ranked team in the ‘AAA’/‘AAAA’ division in the St. Mary Monarchs (Pickering) this afternoon.
The outcome of that game was not known by press time today.
The Monarchs were 1-0 heading into this afternoon’s game with the Muskies, having beaten the Golden Hawks 5-2 yesterday.
Fort High then will wrap up pool play tomorrow morning against the ninth-ranked Orangeville Bears.
The top two teams from each of the four pools will advance to the quarter-finals later tomorrow.
The Muskies were coming off a key 6-3 win over the St. Thomas More Knights (Hamilton) in their opening game of the tournament yesterday morning.
Captain David Pierce led the way offensively with a hat-trick (his first of the season), but he was quick to give credit to his linemates, Romyn and Meyers, who were a force throughout the game.
“You should really talk to Meyers and Romyn because they did all the work out there and I just had to tap them in,” Pierce said after the game.
“They just got me the puck right on my blade and they played amazing today [Wednesday],” he added.
But so did others.
Brock Benjamin had a goal and an assist against the Knights while Brain White and Josh Sigurdson rounded out the Muskie scoring. Bale had a pair of assists.
Head coach Shane Bliss was impressed with the effort his team showed in their tournament opener.
“This was huge for our team,” a beaming Bliss said. “You pretty much can’t afford any mistakes down here and it was big to get that first win because it gives the boys a little more confidence.”
As well, after jumping out to a 4-1 lead before allowing the Knights to get back into the game at 4-3 by the second intermission, the Muskies came away knowing they have room for improvement.
“We know that there’s a lot of room for improvement because lots of times they ran out there with their heads cut off and didn’t know where to go,” said Green.
“So there is lots of room for improvement and everyone knows that,” he added.
Green, making his second appearance at OFSAA, played well in goal yesterday against the Knights but did admit he could have improved on his handling of shots and their rebounds, which he did this morning against Chatham-Kent.
“If I get the rebounds down, then I’ll be good for the rest of the tournament,” he remarked.
“We’re right where we need to be. We’re relaxed, but excited at the same time,” added Pierce.