Joey Payeur
Scott Clendenning is working hard—and working his players hard—to return them to the right frame of mind.
The head coach of the Muskie girls’ hockey team is running his team through its paces at a high tempo during practice this week as the NorWOSSA champs get set to hit “The Road to the Rock” at the OFSAA ‘AA’ championships March 18-20 in Sudbury.
“We’re progressing in practice,” Clendenning said.
“The key is to put three good practices together to get us back to that positive attitude and back to where we were,” he noted, referring to his team’s superb quality of play that produced a 15-0 regular-season record and a 4-0 playoff run.
“When you’re just coming off winning a championship, you can get into a lull,” Clendenning admitted.
“But we’re getting back into the swing of it now.”
The Muskies enter the 16-team OFSAA field as the No. 8 seed—a possible product of their perfect NorWOSSA season coupled with their lack of experience at OFSAA.
Nerves may be an issue for the black-and-gold at the start but Clendenning believes that’s not all bad.
“The girls have to realize it’s just another hockey game,” he stressed.
“We’ve played 50 of them this year,” he added. “Home or away, you still play the same way you can play.
“We’ve just got to translate those nerves into good energy.”
The Muskies are in Pool ‘B’ along with third-seeded St. Michael’s Catholic Secondary School Warriors (Stratton), No. 9 Ecole secondaire catholique Embrun Cyclones (Embrun), and No. 14 Ecole secondaire catholique Theriault Flammes (Timmins).
While little information was available on the Cyclones and Flammes, Clendenning has gathered some intelligence on what could be a dangerous Warriors’ team.
On one hand, the Muskies will catch a break as St. Michael’s will have to do without top scorer Kiernan Campbell for the rest of the season after she sustained a broken leg during a game with her junior team.
But St. Michael’s is only three years removed from losing in overtime of the gold-medal game at the OFSAA ‘AAA/AAAA’ championships, indicating their recent relegation to the ‘AA’ ranks makes them a serious contender for the title.
Those hopes would increase dramatically if blueliner Amanda McClure, who has an NCAA Division I scholarship to St. Lawrence University in New York already in hand, returns from a concussion she sustained during the Warriors’ march to the WOSSA crown after a 9-0-1 regular season.
Forwards Mel Nolan and Faith Flanagan, the latter a Grade 9 talent with speed to burn who scored the winning goal in overtime in the WOSSA final, also provide skill up front.
Goalie Rebecca Ropp, meanwhile, is the No. 1 puck-stopper for the squad.
The Muskies will open play Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. against the Cyclones, then face the Warriors at 1:30 p.m. (all times CDT).
The short turnaround between games won’t be as much of a factor as one might think, says Clendenning.
“We’re used to playing 20-minute periods whereas at OFSAA, they’re only 15 minutes,” he noted.
“We should be able to hold our tempo throughout the period,” he added.
“They’re’s no reason for any lazy shifts out there from us.”
The Muskies then will close out pool play next Wednesday at 11:45 against the Flammes.
There will be no shortage of perennial girls’ hockey powerhouses at OFSAA, which saw its numbers fall from the originally-planned 20 teams after four schools declined invitations to the tournament.
Three of the past five champions are part of the field, with the St. Theresa Catholic Secondary School Titans from Belleville (2012), the Appleby College Whippets from Oakville (2011), and Les Rebelles from the Ecole secondaire publique Louis-Riel in Ottawa (2009) having grabbed the brass ring.
St. Theresa has the No. 1 seed this year while Appleby is No. 2.
But Clendenning isn’t letting any of that impact his strategy for his squad.
“I’ve been saying it all year,” he remarked.
“If we’ve got all three lines, our defence, and the goaltending going as we have at times this season, we’ll be fine.”
The top two finishers from each pool advance to the quarter-finals, which begin next Wednesday evening.
The gold- and bronze-medal games are slated for Thursday.
