Dan Falloon
Don’t tell the Muskie boys’ hockey team that they roundly defeated the Red Lake Rams by a combined score of 35-2 in their four meetings during the regular season.
Rather, the black-and-gold (9-1-2) are taking a more cautious approach to their first-round opponent in the NorWOSSA playoffs, especially after dropping three-straight games to finish the campaign.
While the Rams (0-11-1) were bombed 14-1 and 11-3 by the Dryden Eagles to finish the year, they had hung tough with the Kenora Broncos the previous weekend, losing 5-2 in the first game and forcing overtime in a 6-5 loss in the second one.
“They’re going to come in with nothing to lose,” noted Muskie assistant coach Ken Christiansen.
“They had a very good series against Kenora, so they’re going to come in on a little bit of a roll and it’s going to be a very tough series.
“The first game is going to be very important,” he stressed.
The best-of-three semi-final opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Game 2 goes Sunday in Red Lake, with Game 3 (if necessary) back here on Tuesday (March 2) at 7:30 p.m.
Christiansen maintained Fort High is going to have to battle for any breaks they can get since the Rams are going to try to batter the Muskies into making mistakes.
“They get in your face,” he remarked. “They like to bump-and-grind. That’s their style . . . that’s how they’ve developed.
“That’s what you’ve got to expect from them.”
The Muskies dropped their final two NorWOSSA games, falling 5-2 to Dryden and then 4-3 to Kenora in a shootout, before enduring a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the International Falls Broncos in exhibition action there last Friday night.
Christiansen felt his team just needs to crank up the effort in order to get back on track.
“We’re in a little bit of a slump here and we’re just trying to work our way out of it,” he said.
“We’re trying to work hard—all you can do is work hard and work your way out of it, and see what we can come up with here.
“We’re just going to keep going at it,” he vowed.
Christiansen felt no single area of the team’s play stood out in particular during their late-season funk, pointing out each sector was experiencing a bit of the blahs.
“It’s just a team thing,” he reasoned. “We’re going to work through it.”
The Muskies are missing forward David Chambers and defenceman Jacob Witherspoon with concussion symptoms while Donovan Cousineau may miss some time with an injured wrist.
Christiansen had expected an update on Cousineau’s situation earlier today.
Cousineau finished second on the Muskies in scoring with 20 points, including 10 goals, so losing him would be a blow to Fort High’s attack.
“We’re down to three lines right now, and we’re struggling with that a little bit,” Christiansen sighed.
“It’s just something we have to work through.”
Defenceman Jamie Kaun led the black-and-gold in scoring with 28 points, including nine. Brendan Cawston was the team’s leading goal-scorer with 12.
Red Lake’s top two offensive threats were tied with seven points apiece.
The winner of this series will meet the victor of the Dryden-Kenora semi-final for a shot at NorWOSSA gold and a trip to the all-Ontarios.
