The first-place Muskie boys’ hockey team will clash with the fourth-place Dryden Eagles in the best-of-three NorWOSSA semi-final which gets underway this Friday (Feb. 24) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
Game 2 goes Sunday (Feb. 26) at 7:30 p.m. in Dryden, with Game 3 (if necessary) back here on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
The winner meets the victor of the other semi-final series between the second-place Kenora Broncos and third-place Red Lake Rams for the NorWOSSA gold medal.
There’s no pressure on the Muskies to win the league crown given they already have an automatic berth to the all-Ontarios next month as the host squad.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t be gunning for NorWOSSA gold.
“I don’t think [having the berth] will affect their performance,” said Muskie head coach Shane Bliss. “Otherwise they could have just taken this whole year off.
“We don’t want to just coast in there. That’s important to us,” he stressed. “We just have to keep it up all the way through the game because it’s not going to cut it in playoffs and certainly not in OFSAA.”
The Muskie players feel much the same way about their semi-final showdown against the Eagles.
“I think we have a very good chance at beating Dryden,” said George Halverson. “Like Coach Bliss said to us in the dressing room, it’s a big mountain for [Dryden] to climb if they want to beat us.”
Being a rookie on the team, Halverson admitted to being both excited and nervous about the playoffs and the upcoming OFSAA championship.
But teammate Alex McQuarrie said the team just has to keep doing what they’re doing in order to be successful.
“We want to be champs of the league,” he remarked. “We want to go into OFSAA in first place, not second or third.”
The black-and-gold wrapped up their regular-season schedule on a positive note last night with a 6-1 win over the visiting Kenora Broncos in a game that meant nothing in the standings for either team.
Tyson Romyn gave the Muskies a 1-0 lead after a scramble in front of the net. Then about halfway through the first period, Brian White and Josh Sigurdson scored just over a minute apart to make it 3-0.
Romyn notched his second of the game with six minutes left in the first.
Romyn got his hat trick with a power-play goal with about six minutes to go in the second period.
Kevin Bobczynski made it 6-0 just 25 seconds into the third period.
Kenora spoiled the shutout bid with a goal at 13:55 of the period.
Meanwhile, the Muskie girls’ hockey team also will face Dryden in the NorWOSSA semi-finals—only they have to open the best-of-three series on the road this Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Game 2 goes here Sunday (Feb. 26) at 2:15 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena, with Game 3 (if necessary) back in Dryden on Tuesday (Feb. 28) at 7:30 p.m.
The black-and-gold finished the regular season in third place after a 4-4 tie with Dryden there Monday night. The Eagles ended up in second place.
The semi-final winner advances to the league final against the first-place Kenora Broncos, who earned the bye.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
