Back-to-back years of heartbreak was plenty enough for the Muskie boys’ hockey team.
For the first time in two years, the Muskies are headed back to the all-Ontarios after doubling the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints 6-3 in the third-and-deciding game of the NorWOSSA final last night at the ’52 Canadians Arena.
Goalie Darian Klem was the starter in both Game 3 losses in the final the past two years for the black-and-gold against the Sioux Lookout Warriors and he was elated to finally put the disappointment and sting of those defeats in the rear-view mirror as he held the fort steady between the pipes to help the Muskies claim the league title this year.
“I can’t speak for everybody else but I wanted to win,” Klem smiled after the championship win last night on home ice.
“Tonight it was just crazy. I can’t describe it, everybody just wanted it [the championship win] so much.”
Connor Nelson’s power-play goal with 5:45 left in the third period proved to be the game-winner as the Muskies claimed their first NorWOSSA crown since 2017, also the last time they hosted the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ boys’ hockey championship.
Jacob Albright scored twice while Jace Jackson, Josh Ward and Mikel Ward also lit the lamp for Fort High.
Ethan Hillhorst, Brett Riehl and Sawyer Peters replied for the Saints while Kaden King took the loss in goal.
Some undisciplined play early in the first period cost the Muskies as Hillhorst opened the scoring on a two-man advantage as his blast from the point beat a screened Klem at 12:05.
Jackson then drew the Muskies level just after a Saints’ penalty had expired as his wrist shot from just inside the blueline fooled King with 5:10 to go in the middle stanza.
“In the second [period] I thought we played a lot better, the message was just we have to stay disciplined,” Muskie head coach Chris Sinclair, whose team went 11-1 during the regular season and then 4-1 in the playoffs, said after the championship game.
“They’re gonna try to get us off our game and they did a good job of that in the first.
They got under our skin and we got undisciplined and it resulted with them putting one in our net and luckily our penalty kill was able to kill off the other six [penalties], I think, and we were able to battle back in the second. Kind of use our head and play selfless hockey and get back to our gameplan.”
Albright beat the buzzer just before the second intermission for his first goal of the night on a wild and clutch play to give the Muskies a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Riehl knotted it at two for St. Thomas Aquinas 1:17 into the third as he raced past the Muskie defence and lifted a backhand high over Klem.
But not to be outdone, Josh Ward replied on a breakaway end-to-end rush of his own that he buried past King to put the Muskies ahead once again at 3-2 just moments later.
Then with the Muskies killing yet another penalty, Peters snuck out from behind Fort High’s goal and fired one over the left pad of Klem at 4:33 to knot at it at 3-3.
After Nelson put the Muskies back on top with his man-advantage goal later in the frame, Mikel Ward made it 5-3 as he buried a pass in the slot from captain Reed Bodnar high over King’s glove.
Albright then salted the championship win away with an empty-netter with 1:19 to play to help the Muskies advance to the OFSAA championship running March 25-28 in St. Catharines.
“You can’t really describe it, it’s just an exciting time,” Sinclair, whose team lost 5-4 in Game 1 at the Ice For Kids Arena last Wednesday before routing the Saints 10-1 in Game 2 in Kenora on Saturday, said of claiming the NorWOSSA crown on home ice in Game 3.
“They’re here in Fort in front of a great crowd, as always. I mean, the community is behind all of our sports and it’s just great to see. It’s a fun atmosphere. So to be able to do it at home is just that much more special.”
The seedings and schedule for OFSAA will be released in the upcoming days.
“Just the competition, it’s gonna be good hockey down there,” Klem said of what he’s most looking forward to about his first all-Ontarios experience later this month.
“Obviously I wanna win, but it’s a big step up and we’ll do our best,” he vowed.
