A back and forth affair between the Dryden Eagles and the Fort Frances Muskies inevitably ended in an extra period Saturday afternoon in Kenora, but the Muskies were able to take advantage and come out on top, securing a spot in OFSAA playoffs.
Aiden Jean started the scoring for the Muskies with an unassisted goal scored on a slapshot from the point as he crossed the blue line into Eagles territory just a 1:49 into the opening frame of the final.
The Eagles were able to answer back with Dakota Cooper in the box for a hit to the head about five minutes later.
Cooper took three of the Muskies’ six penalties in the game, which saw the Eagles pick up two of their three goals on the power play.
The Muskies took the lead back, if only briefly, on a fortuitous deflection in front of the Eagles net that saw Trent Friesen credited with a goal after a shot from an awkward angle. But the Eagles were able to answer right back.
While the Muskies controlled much of the play, they struggled to direct shots on net, and the Eagles frequently iced the puck, which often killed the Muskies’ momentum. The second period ended tied at two goals apiece.
When Jackson Tucker was called for interference early in the third, the Eagles took advantage of the power play and took the lead less than three minutes into the final frame.
The Muskies continued to have chances but failed to beat Eagles goalie Max Calder.
With just under nine minutes remaining in the final frame, Muskies head coach Chris Sinclair sent out Callum McCormick, Jackson Tucker and Niko Ruppenstein on a line together for a faceoff in the Eagles end.
Ruppenstein won a battle along the boards and passed the puck to McCormick, who was down low in the corner, with Tucker sitting back door, McCormick feigned a move behind the net before passing it to Ruppenstein who was sitting on the doorstep ready to shoot it five-hole on Calder. Tucker was also awarded an assist on the play.
The Muskies would fend off the Eagles for the last eight minutes of the third leading to a four-on-four sudden death overtime period.
The Muskies didn’t leave the fans who had made the trek from Fort Frances waiting long.
Just 42 seconds into the frame, Tucker carried the puck into the zone and passed it into the goal mouth. The Eagles had an opportunity to clear but fanned on the puck. Ruppenstein continued to jab at the puck putting it off the post and the goalie before finally jamming it home amid a dogpile of Eagles players in the crease.
Following the game, Ruppenstein said he saw the puck and kept at it.
“I don’t even really remember, I just remember it was in my feet, and I was whacking away at it and then I ended up hitting the post and then it kind of bobbled in between the goalies legs and I saw the puck and I just swooped it into the back of the net, and the rest is history,” he recounted.
Many young players dream of having the opportunity to score a playoff game winning goal in overtime and Ruppenstein was no different.
“It feels amazing, especially with the stakes on the line,” he said.
“This could have been my last ever career hockey game, so the fact that I not only tied it up but put us ahead in overtime to win the game, it’s an incredible feeling.”
With the game on the line, Sinclair turned to the combination of McCormick, Ruppenstein and Tucker, which had had success together earlier in the season but he divided up to help with the team’s depth.
“That was a line I had at the beginning of the year and I split them up for the majority of the second half, just spreading things out and putting (Quinton) Lepage [on the first line] to add some physicalness, and he fills the spot well, but like you said, we were down one, we’re trying to get things going and they’ve been a three that I’ve kind of been able to rely on,” Sinclair said.
“I knew that any time I put them together, they’re playing in the offensive zone, and they’re generating offense and producing chances, so it was bound to come, did I think it was going to happen right away? No, but I’m glad it did.”
Team captain and ‘super senior’ Callum McCormick played in Kenora with the AAA Thistles last year and made the return to the Muskies to play one final year.
“I missed out last year and they didn’t have the best end result,” McCormick said, referring to the Muskies NORWOSSA finals loss a year ago.
“It was good to come back for a third year and a third NORWOSSA gold medal.”
On his reunion with Tucker and Ruppenstein for the game-tying goal, McCormick said his linemates make the game easy to play.
“We started the year together, and we were pretty hot, and then we changed stuff up a little bit mid-season,” he said.
“Playing with those two guys, it makes life pretty easy. We had three shifts there together at the end, and we had two goals. So it was pretty awesome playing with those two.”
Sinclair says he knew the team had it in them all season and was happy to see it come together in the final game.
“I’m proud, proud of them as individuals, as a group, as a whole,” he said.
“I said at the start of the year, we had a pretty strong team coming in. We knew the kind of the skill, the speed, the size, the strength, the age we knew we had all that, and the biggest challenge was going to be seeing how it would work together, and putting it all together to the end, and setting a goal for ourselves to get to OFSAA. Like I said, I’m just so proud that they were able to work so hard throughout the year to get where they did, and to top it off with the victory of winning NORWOSSA.”
The Muskie boys and girls teams will both now travel to OFSAA in Sudbury from March 18 to 20.
