Muskie boys beaten twice by Shattuck Canadians split pair of games

What started as a Muskie boys’ invitational hockey tournament turned into a pair of exhibition losses as the black-and-gold lost a pair of games to the visiting Shattuck St. Mary’s Sabres by 4-2 scores over the weekend.
While the losses weren’t easy to take, they were easy to believe coming against a tough ‘AAA’ team like Shattuck.
Muskie head coach Shane Bliss’ main cause for concern were the rash of penalties in the second contest—capped by a pair of fights involving Blake Wepruk and Dustin Brown.
“I’m not happy with the penalties we took and the ‘junior’ mentality we displayed on the ice,” said Bliss, drawing a link between the fights and the presence of the SIJHL’s Fort Frances Jr. Sabres in town.
A number of Muskies are affiliated with the junior team, which plays in an environment where fighting is commonplace—unlike high school hockey, where it carries heavy penalties and suspensions.
“In our rules, there’s no room for that,” Bliss stressed. “We don’t have that in our league, and it’s just dumb to go out there and act like we’re playing junior hockey.”
He used his own long-past days as a Muskie player as an example.
“We had guys in there that were notorious for tough play, rough play, but they knew they had to toe the line,” Bliss noted.
He added the fighting—coupled with another 12 penalties in the second game Saturday morning—showed what was “definitely a lack of discipline.”
Bliss offered a bit of advice to those who ended up in the box for retaliating against the Sabres: “You gotta put up with a lot of crap in hockey.”
Fort High scored first in both games, carrying a 2-1 lead into the second period in Friday night’s opener and then showing some strong defensive play on Saturday morning when down 5-on-3 throughout the second period with as many as four Muskies in the penalty box.
“I think if we were in game shape and were more disciplined, we could’ve taken those games,” Bliss said.
Captain Ryan Witherspoon said the Muskies “should’ve been able to stay out of the box a little more,” but did see good things in the team—specifically, its veteran presence.
“A lot of returns, a lot of experience. All leader guys,” he remarked. “We’ll learn from our mistakes.”
Goalie Kyle Goertzen, one of a few Muskies who were commended by Bliss for their work in Saturday morning’s game, said the team’s major flaw in the early season has been its passing game.
“We need to work on just our teamwork in general, our cycling . . . we just didn’t support the puck on the power play,” Goertzen said. “Just wasn’t connecting.
“More practise, and we’ll get it done.”
Bliss seemed willing write off most of the games’ low points to rust, noting Shattuck had played 17 games before coming to town while calling them “a heck of a hockey club.”
But he said they’ll be busy in practice before they leave tomorrow night for an eight-team weekend tournament in Morden, Man. that will include NorWOSSA rivals from Kenora and Red Lake.
Witherspoon vowed the team will be ready.
“We’re coming along. We know what we have to work on. We just have to work on it before we go to Morden,” he reasoned.
In related news, the Fort Frances Canadians Midget ‘AA’ team split a pair of games against Shattuck’s ‘AA’ squad here—losing 3-0 on Friday before rebounding with a 9-2 win Saturday morning.
The four teams were all that remained of a planned Muskie-hosted tournament that fell apart when no other clubs signed on.
But Canadians’ coach Dave Egan said his team was no worse for having their weekend reduced to two games.
“It worked out okay for us,” he remarked. “It was good for our team, it was a good measuring stick for us.”
While following a shutout loss with a nine-goal barrage may seem odd on paper, Egan wasn’t fazed by the turnaround.
“The boys were able to hit the twine. Quite often, we have times we don’t hit the net, period,” he noted.
“To be honest with you, we caught on to their system in the neutral zone and we were able to shut it down.”
Logan Allen led the Canadians on Saturday with two goals (one of which turned out to be the game-winner) and an assist. Twelve different Canadians registered a point in that game, with five earning multiple tallies.
For his part, Bliss said while he would have liked the tournament to fill out with a full roster of teams, the Muskies had their hands full with Shattuck.
“It’s not that disappointing. We got two games in,” he remarked. “It would be nice to continue to build [the tournament] up, but I’m happy with the two games we got.
“It gives us something to go off, something to practise with,” he noted.