Muskie girls eyeing strong second half

The Muskie girls’ hockey team is heading into 2008 in first place in NorWOSSA—and don’t think for a second that they aren’t aware of it.
In fact, the ever-humble squad quietly is celebrating its league-leading 4-2-0 record while readying for a strong second half of the season.
“It’s the first time we’ve been in first place at the [Christmas ]break and we’ve played well,” said Muskie head coach Lynn Kellar.
“I like our chances and I think we have a very solid team,” he added.
The FFHS girls’ hockey program has made strides since first setting up shop seven years ago, with their first game played in November, 2000.
They’ve also managed to already do the one thing they couldn’t do last season—beat the Dryden Eagles. The Muskies opened their NorWOSSA season with a 3-2 shootout win, followed by an 8-1 thrashing in late November.
Their final league match of 2007—a 7-1 loss to those same Eagles on Dec. 18—showed the team can’t rest on its laurels, but the message has been sent to both the competition and to the players themselves.
“You don’t hear that anymore that, ‘Oh, we’re playing this team or that team,’ it doesn’t really matter who we’re playing anymore,” Kellar stressed. “An important part here in the second half early on is to re-establish ourselves as a team to beat.”
The girls say it’s much easier to look to the second half from on top of the league standings.
“All the things we’ve worked on through the years, we’re finally working at,” said veteran forward Miranda Kellar. “I don’t think we’ve ever been in first place this long. . . . I think it’s a lot easier going into the Christmas break.”
And while the team isn’t rah-rah about it, the progress means plenty.
“It’s just really important to me,” said goalie Katie Stearns, in her third year between the pipes for the Muskies. “It means a lot to me, I don’t know about anyone else.”
There’s a different presence to this team, Coach Kellar said, an attitude, a swagger they didn’t have before—just a quiet one.
“On road trips or whatever else, it’s very quiet,” he noted. “Like years past, they would be kind of worried about how they were playing . . . whereas this year they don’t.
“They’re a very quiet group, but I think at the same time they’re very confident,” he added.
That confidence comes from knowing what the team is capable of. Kellar said the skaters have matured and learned how best to fit into the team’s structure as the goaltending tandem of Stearns and Sara Trendiak has blossomed in their third year.
“I think one of the biggest differences at this time of year is the depth,” he remarked. “We have three solid lines. . . . Before, we’ve had one or two solid lines and, you know, a third line that held their own, but I think this year we have three lines that can score and can play with anybody.
“I think that’s something that we haven’t had in the past.”
Kellar said he’s feeling as satisfied as anyone else that the program is coming together and the girls are the early favourites, at least by league points, to capture NorWOSSA gold.
Kellar guessed the girls only have about a third of the games in the new year that they had before the break—a significant difference for a team that sputtered to the end of 2007 thanks to a stream of injuries and illnesses.
The expectations are high given last season’s early exit—bit by the injury bug and then swept in the NorWOSSA semi-finals by a Kenora team the Muskies had trounced all during the regular season.
With the injury problem a current issue that could be cleared up in a week or two, and a relatively light schedule ahead for the next two months, Kellar is expecting as much as anyone else from this team, if not a lot more.
“I think definitely we’re a better team than our record has shown,” he stressed. We’ve played really well but haven’t had the wins to show for it.
“I don’t think our record is an indication of how strong a team we can be.”
The Muskie girls been close but on the outside looking in before, but as the current leaders of the league, Kellar said this team has to stick to what it does right, rely on its depth, and walk the thin line between natural confidence and acting like they’ve already won that elusive NorWOSSA title.
“The biggest challenge, I think, is not looking too far ahead [and] just focusing on one game at a time,” he stressed. “Building towards the playoffs and looking towards the things to do, and not waiting for the playoffs to come to get ready.
“We’re not waiting for the playoffs to elevate our game.”