Jamie Mountain
With their original NorWOSSA regular-season opener against the Kenora Broncos rescheduled to Dec. 15, the Muskie boys’ hockey team was able to fine-tune its skills ahead of the season with a trio of scrimmage games Saturday in Warroad, Mn.
Although the black-and-gold went 0-3 record, head coach Jordan Sinclair believes the stiff competition they faced will bode well for their season, which officially kicked off yesterday against the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints in Kenora (the outcome wasn’t known as of press time).
The Muskies then will cap the week by hosting the Sioux Lookout Warriors on Friday night at “The Duke” (Couchiching Arena)–the same team that defeated them in three games to claim the NorWOSSA title back in March.
“I expect fully for both games to be very difficult and a good challenge for us,” Sinclair said Monday afternoon.
“I think T.A. has a lot of returning players and we know they have solid goaltending, so that’s where our focus will be.
“Once we get to Sioux [Lookout], we will worry about them but to me, there’s no doubt they are the toughest challenge,” he added.
“As I said before, they are the champs until someone can knock them off,” Sinclair noted.
“We will embrace the role of underdog and know they have some players with the ability to really hurt you, but their best player to me still is far and away their goaltender.”
Sinclair stressed the importance of the Muskies sticking to their identity, which is to be a team that skates with speed and is relentless on the puck.
“We have to make a conscious effort to get pucks to the middle of the ice [and] make sure that we have a net presence, making it difficult for him and make sure we are stopping on the crease,” he remarked.
“No fly-bys and being hard down there in finishing and making good on our opportunities.”
As for the scrimmages in Warroad on Saturday, the Muskies were in tough from the get-go as they were blanked 2-0 by Grand Forks.
Jaden Cooper suffered the tough-luck loss in net.
The black-and-gold then battled the Roseau Rams, which wasn’t any more kinder as they were dumped 7-1.
Matt Spence tallied the squad’s lone goal in the third period while Cooper and Darian Klem shared goalie duties.
Cooper allowed five goals before Klem took over midway through the game and allowed two.
Fort High then capped scrimmage play with a 5-2 loss to the host Warriors.
Spence and Nolan Mann supplied the offence in that one while Cooper took the loss.
“We played some really strong competition and, most likely, the three strongest teams there,” Sinclair said.
“I think these games are always good for us to stretch you and to really see areas of your game that need improvement,” he reasoned.
“I think it’s great for our development because it forces you to be at your best.”
Sinclair added the biggest takeaways from the weekend games were that it showed him how much the Muskies need to improve on the little details that good teams do much better–and more consistently–than they do now.
“But I’m confident that we will get there,” he enthused. “It starts in our practises and although I have been pleased with practises thus far, we are going to have to push harder to be faster and more determined.
“And the guys will have to also be willing to push one another.
“I like they way all of our lines worked,” Sinclair added.
“Our energy I thought was pretty good [in Warroad],” he noted. “I thought our young guys did well, considering the jump and adjustment it would be for them from last year.
“They handled themselves nicely and were able to generate chances in the offensive zone,” he lauded.
