The head coach of the Fort Frances High School Muskie Boys hockey team hopes the return of several seniors and players from past years will be key to the team’s return to OFSAA this year.
When high school hockey tryouts took place in September, many of the players had had the opportunity to avail of summer ice time at the Fort Frances Memorial Sports Centre and head coach Chris Sinclair says it showed.
“I think being able to skate all summer was very beneficial,” Sinclair said. “Kids being able to jump into tryouts and now into the season without having to shake that little bit of rust off was noticeable. We were able to jump right into things rather than spend time on the basics getting back to game speed.”
Sinclair says many young players stood out at tryouts, but the opportunity to put together a roster packed with experience was something he couldn’t pass up.
“We have an older and experienced team for sure,” Sinclair said. “We have five “super seniors” along with nine grade 12 students. Many of these older players have played at this level before or even higher.”
The team features the return of players who have played with the Muskies in the past and opted to pursue AAA opportunities in Kenora and Thunder Bay or played with other high-level teams. While many of the younger players played well in tryouts, Sinclair is confident in the team he has put together.
“In reality it was an easy decision to go this route,” he said. “I think when you’re given the opportunity to put a roster like this together anyone would do the same. We have speed, size, skill, and experience which will go a long way deeper into our season.”
Sinclair says there were many players he might have picked in other years and he’s excited to see how they develop in the minor hockey system.
“Having to cut many talented young players was very difficult, as many of the kids who weren’t fortunate to make the team did stand out and make a name for themselves as well,” He said. “We had a lot of kids tryout, meaning hopefully our u18 minor hockey in Emo and Fort Frances can grow as well as the grade nine kids can continue to develop at the u15 level.”
The team played its first tournament in Winnipeg a few weeks ago but with ongoing fall season sports like football and volleyball, the team hadn’t had a practice with everyone together before hitting the road. Both football and volleyball teams have wrapped up their seasons and the team will now be able to practice with everyone together.
“We went to Winnipeg for our first tournament a couple weeks ago and did okay. I thought we had 3 solid games and 1 game where we just weren’t on,” Sinclair said.
“We lost our first to Selkirk 4-3, won our second vs Sturgeon Heights 6-4, and tied our third 5-5 vs John Taylor. We ended up losing 6-1 in the B-side semi final to Selkirk. There were a lot of positives from the weekend and lots to learn from.”
Sinclair says they hope to clean up their game as practices progress.
“The biggest takeaways from the weekend were discipline and starting strong,” he said. “We got a lot of work on our penalty kill that weekend, but that’s not something we’re looking to do all season. We didn’t start very strong, putting us behind from the start in each game. The guys showed a lot of character in battling back from being down in games, which is good to see but we need to stress the importance of playing a full 60 minutes.”
The Muskies were set to start play in the NorWOSSA league next week on Nov. 19 however with the ‘52 Canadians rink out of commission and no firm timeline for the repairs to be completed according to the Town, home games where both boys and girls teams are meant to play simultaneously may be in jeopardy until the repairs are complete.
Sinclair says once the NorWOSSA season does get underway he hopes the team will play as well as he thinks they can.
“When you have a strong team on paper like we do, I think the biggest challenge is always going to be ‘can they come together and play as a team and live up to the expectation,’” he said. “Our goal is to get back to the OFSAA championships in Sudbury this year. Many of our players still have the taste of bitterness from losing to Beaver Brae in the final last year. Getting there is going to take hard work throughout the year but I think we have a good combination of leadership and determination along with the personnel in the room to get us where we want to be in March.”
The NorWOSSA playoffs will run Feb. 28-March 1 in Kenora with OFSAA scheduled for March 18-20 if the Muskies can qualify.
“The potential to accomplish a lot this year is there, it’s just going to be a matter of wanting it,” Sinclair said. “We have our first tournament as a whole group this weekend in Steinbach and then our season is set to begin next week. We are certainly excited to get going and see what we can accomplish this season.”
The boys will play border series against both Lake of the Woods and International Falls this year with the first against the Lake of the Woods Bears in Fort Frances on Dec. 10 and the first against the Broncos on Dec. 20.
