Joey Payeur
It’s never easy to say goodbye.
A five-pack of Muskie seniors likely bid farewell to their high school hockey tenures with a 6-5 loss to the All Saints Titans (Whitby) on Thursday afternoon in the quarter-finals of the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ girls’ hockey championship in Stratford.
One of those is captain Janelle Kaemingh, who netted a second-period tally against the Titans and assisted on the first of Annalise (CC) Hayes’ hat-trick goals.
“It was an emotional last game for me and all of the seniors because after hanging up our jerseys, knowing it was the last time we would wear them was heartbreaking,” admitted Kaemingh, whose ride into the sunset will be accompanied by fellow Grade 12 forwards Lauren Hamilton and Jess Steele and blueliners Abby Plourde and Sara Jackson.
“Over the past three years, I got to experience such great things and make memories that I will never forget,” she added.
“Being a part of this team was like having a second family,” she noted. “You got to play the game you love but it was more than just playing hockey–it was the people you got to play with.
“You would grow so close with everyone and got to make new friends each year, and begin a new journey,” Kaemingh explained.
“And with this being my last year, I can also say it’s been the best year,” she noted.
“I’ll never forget these past three years. It has been an honour to be a Muskie.”
The quarter-final truly was anyone’s game as the Titans led three different times while the Muskies were up twice.
After Taylor Croswell tied the game for the fourth time at 4:22 of the third period to erase a 4-2 deficit, the Titans struck 1:04 later to make it 5-4.
Hayes replied with her third goal (and team-leading fifth tally of the tournament) with 3:13 left in regulation time on a set-up from Kelsey Langtry and Alex Gartzke.
But after consecutive icing calls against the Muskies, the Titans won an offensive zone face-off and rocketed home the winning goal over the shoulder of Grade 9 goalie Kamryn Sandelovich with 1:15 to go.
“The Titans had three tall, very skilled players and [when] they got around the net, they put the puck in a spot that was very difficult to stop,” noted Muskie head coach Todd Hamilton.
“The last one went bar down with authority,” he recalled. “I’m not sure how you stop that kind of shot.”
Hamilton defended his decision of keeping to his season-long philosophy of strictly adhering to a regular rotation of his goaltenders with his choice of Sandelovich over veteran Grade 11 starter Sydney Beck for the quarter-final.
“Our two goalies all year have been a real good 1-2 punch for us,” he explained.
“The coaching staff felt ‘Kam’ was ready to take the challenge on and gain the experience,” Hamilton said.
“There’s no way to say if ‘Syd’ would have shut the door, either,” he added.
“It’s just the way it played out.”
Kaemingh, meanwhile, was left to rue what unfolded into a plethora of missed opportunities for the 11th-seeded Muskies.
“At the beginning of the game, I thought we had a pretty good chance of moving on because we were controlling most of the game and their goalie was pretty weak,” she recalled.
“But we couldn’t seem to get a good lead on them and couldn’t bury our chances.”
The loss stung even more when the eighth-ranked Titans proceeded to win their semi-final match, then push the 13th-seeded Ecole secondaire catholique L’Escale Cougars (Rockland) to overtime in the final before losing 4-3.
“After finding out that All Saints went to the gold-medal game, and only barely lost, was disappointing to hear because that could have been us in the finals,” Kaemingh lamented.
“And it was hard not to think back to [the quarter-final] imagining what we could have done better to change that outcome.”
Fort High opened play last Wednesday with a 3-2 win over the sixth-ranked Lambton Lancers (Petrolia), who caused the Muskies’ exit from last year’s tournament by beating them in the consolation semi-finals.
Hayes had a pair of goals in that one, including the game-winner with 6:02 to play on a deflection of a point shot from Plourde.
Hamilton had the other goal while Beck got the win in net.
“That was a big win for us and it set the tone for the rest of the tournament,” said Todd Hamilton, who then watched his team fire puck after puck on net against the 16th-seeded Iona Dolphins (Mississauga) only to trail 2-1 late in the game.
Riding in to the rescue was Jackson, who uncorked a laser from the blueline that went in top shelf with 40 seconds to play to pull out a 2-2 tie.
“We outshot them something like 50-10 but we couldn’t put the puck away, and then they get a blooper and then another one and suddenly it’s 2-1,” recounted Hamilton, whose team opened the scoring on a tally by Jill Calder.
“We left it all on the ice and got the goal we needed,” noted Kaemingh.
“Everyone had the determination needed to come back, which shows what a great team we had this year,” she added.
The Muskie then ran smack into the buzzsaw that was the top-ranked and reigning two-time champion St. Michael Warriors from Stratford, who used three second-period goals to bolster a 6-0 shutout in the Muskies’ final pool game Thursday morning.
St. Michael, which shockingly was upset by L’Escale 3-2 in the semi-finals before winding up with the bronze medal, tore through their first four opponents by a combined score of 26-1.
But that doesn’t mean every aspect of the Warriors’ game left a good impression on the Muskies.
“It was disappointing for me because if you just bumped one of their players or moved them off the puck, there was some sort of embellishment and we’d get a penalty,” said Hamilton, who lost both Kaemingh and Hayes to ejection for collecting four minor penalties each during the game mostly on such plays.
“I don’t blame the kids, I blame the coaches,” added Hamilton, who said he’ll decide upon his return behind the bench for next season sometime next month.
“It was pretty embarrassing, in my opinion, and it’s puzzling because they have players who can toe drag with the puck and go top shelf on you if they want to.”
Kaemingh was just as flustered with the situation.
“We knew the game against St. Michael was going to be a hard one and fairly physical, which would bring the refs into the game,” she remarked.
“And that’s what led to CC and I getting sent off the ice, which was frustrating because we just wanted to be out on the ice playing the game.
“But it’s hard when the refs won’t give you a break,” Kaemingh added.
Hamilton said the presence of his five seniors will be missed come next season as the Muskies vie for a fifth-straight NorWOSSA title.
“[Jackson and Plourde] took charge on the blueline this year and took big strides in their game individually,” he lauded.
“[Kaemingh and Lauren Hamilton] were wonderful leaders for the kids to see in terms of their attitude and team play,” he added.
“[Steele] only had the one year to experience it, but it would be great if she came back as she became a real threat by the end of the year and got better every day.”
Departures aside, the Muskies still are left with as many as 14 possible returnees for next season, which gives Hamilton good hope the team can continue its NorWOSSA domination.
“It’s pretty rare air to win four titles in a row,” he noted.
“Ultimately, it’s a major accomplishment considering how the league has improved the last couple of years and it’s only going to get tighter.”
Kaemingh, meanwhile, put a positive spin on the final chapter in both the Muskies’ season and her swan song campaign.
“I was very proud of how far we made it at OFSAA even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” she said.
“Everyone worked really hard to make it as far as we did, but just couldn’t come out with the win that was needed.
“It’s what we worked for all season and we had a great group of girls who loved to play the game,” Kaemingh added.
“It was a great experience and that’s all that matters.”
The squad will hold its year-end awards banquet April 5 starting at 6 p.m. at the Fort High cafeteria.
