Gordon Anderson
Following yesterday’s 7-4 loss to Mount Carmel, Muskie head coach Shawn Jourdain gave Scott Parsons the start in favour of Devin Stromness against the St. Thomas of Villanova Wildcats this morning.
Parson was solid in the net, but he alone wasn’t enough as the black-and-gold fell 4-1 to drop to 0-2 in Group ‘A’ action at the OFSAA ‘AAA/AAAA’ hockey championship in Toronto.
Jourdain made the switch based on a feeling that Parson would have a good game.
“He played well,” Jourdain said after the game. “I had a good talk with him last night [Tuesday] and I asked him if he wanted the challenge.
“I just had a hunch after talking to him last night and we made the decision.”
In a tournament of this magnitude, special teams have to be on form—and they just weren’t for the Muskies. In fact, you could say that was the reason they lost to the 12th-ranked Wildcats.
They squandered a 43-second five-on-three, they surrendered a power-play goal, and allowed a goal while up a man.
“I don’t know,” a clearly exasperated Jourdain said about the power play. “They rush things, there’s no patience, and that’s the bottom line right there.
“They’re not patient enough and we ask them to be, but they just don’t do it,” he stressed.
“Our power play and special teams killed us [this morning],” admitted forward Colton Spicer. “We just couldn’t get it done.
“We couldn’t handle their pressure, it gave us a lot of trouble in our own zone,” he noted.
St. Thomas was the first team to shake loose, netting a power-play goal with just 42 seconds left in the opening period.
Mark Carter got behind the Muskie defence and cut across the crease before jamming the puck between the right post and the outstretched left leg of Parsons.
Special teams also gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with 7:08 to go in the second. While shorthanded, Kyle Burns stripped Davis Ross of the puck at the top of the Fort High left face-off circle, went in alone on Parsons, and beat him with a slick deke to the forehand.
Consecutive minor penalties to St. Thomas gave the Muskies a 43-second five-on-three with just over four minutes left in the middle frame.
But they managed just one point shot on the five-on-three, then took a slashing penalty to negate the other minor.
The black-and-gold narrowed the gap to 2-1 with 11 seconds left in the second with a power-play goal of their own.
Tarran Romyn’s quick wrist shot from the low slot smacked the right post but Nick Kaun was there to bat the bouncing puck into the empty net.
St. Thomas took a 3-1 lead 3:50 into the third when Daniel McIntyre roofed a wrist shot from the low slot.
Steven Spada then closed out the scoring just over three minutes later, cashing in on his own rebound.
“We had a great effort,” Jourdain said.
“I thought we had them, but breakdowns in our own zone, little things we harp on all year long, show up in games like this,” he added.
