Junior teams cruise to NorWOSSA gold

The Muskies continued their dominance at the junior level this season as both the boys’ basketball and girls’ volleyball teams won gold Monday afternoon at the NorWOSSA finals in Dryden.
John Sivonen had 30 points, and Evan Woodland netted 22, to pace the junior boys to a 61-49 victory over the Kenora Broncos.
The Muskies jumped out to a 26-18 lead at halftime, however, Kenora stormed back and later tied the score at 42-42. But that was as close as they would get as the black-and-gold went on a 19-7 run to ice the victory.
Muskie head coach Claude Gagnon said the key to the win was the team’s defensive play, and the fact they remained calm even when Kenora battled back to tie the score.
Terry Richards and Woodland, in particular, also played well defensively, he added.
Gagnon also said he was pleased with the work ethic he got from his players all season, resulting in a perfect 9-0 record in NorWOSSA play.
In fact, their only loss overall was to Churchill (Winnipeg), considered to be one of the top junior teams in Manitoba.
Meanwhile, the junior Muskie spikers also capped off a perfect season with a 15-13, 10-15, and 15-3 win over the Broncos in the best-of-three NorWOSSA final.
It was a game of comebacks as the heavily-favoured Muskies were forced to battle back from a 12-7 deficit in the first game. Then they blew a 7-0 lead in the second game to force the deciding one.
But they pulled it all together in the third game, led by the serving of Sarah Noonan, to nail down their third-straight NorWOSSA title and sixth in the past eight seasons.
“Even though we won [the match], we actually played quite poorly,” admitted head coach Struchan Gilson, still feeling the effects of the injuries he received in a car accident heading up to Dryden for the playoffs last Thursday.
“I don’t know if it was nerves, or the delay, [but] we didn’t play very well.”
The NorWOSSA playoffs were scheduled for last Thursday in Dryden but both junior finals had to be cancelled because the two Muskie teams couldn’t get there due to poor road conditions.
Not knowing the bus carrying the teams had turned back, Gilson was on his way to Dryden in his car when the accident occurred.