If the Muskies earn a berth to the all-Ontarios coming up March 22-25 in Sudbury, head coach Glen Edwards can only hope they play as well as they did at a tournament in Winnipeg last weekend.
The black-and-gold went unbeaten in five games there, including a 4-0 victory over the St. Paul’s Crusaders in Sunday’s final, to win the 12-team tournament.
“We played really well. We forechecked the heck out of them and held them in their zone for most of the game,” Edwards said of their effort against St. Paul’s.
“We played very well in our own end, keeping the puck to the outside. The tournament, as a whole, we gave up very few shots,” he noted.
They also gave up just eight goals in their five games.
The Muskies were able to concentrate more on defence in the final after jumping out to a commanding 3-0 first-period lead. Steve Niskala opened the scoring midway through the frame, then Cole Hayward tallied less than three minutes later to make it 2-0.
Defenceman Boomer Redford netted a power-play marker with 2:12 left in the period.
After David Lloyd made it 4-0 five minutes into the second, the Muskies kept the Crusaders at bay for the rest of the game.
Blake Carlson, named to the tournament all-star team, earned the shutout in goal.
It definitely was a performance the Muskies would like to bottle up and save for a possible trip to the all-Ontario.
“It was a good tournament for everyone on the team. Man-to-man, we played well,” said Edwards. “We’re starting to get healthy and we’ll be able to see what we can do.
“We’re real happy right now. We have balance in our lineup, every line has quickness and toughness,” he added. “This sets us up for the all-Ontarios.”
The Muskies reached the final after edging the Kelvin Clippers 3-2 on Saturday night. Don Kellar’s insurance marker with 3:35 to play was the difference.
Don Kellar iced the game late in the period to give the Muskies a 3-1 lead before Kelvin scored late in the game.
Kevin Webb opened the scoring midway in the first before the Clippers replied with one of their own with just 12 seconds to go in the period.
The black-and-gold regained their lead when Jeff Savage, who led all scorers at the tournament and later was named MVP, tallied with 44 seconds left in the second.
Then Kellar put the Muskies up 3-1 before Kelvin got a late goal to make it close.
The Muskies clinched first place in their pool, and a berth into the semi-finals, after doubling the Sisler Spartans 4-2 on Saturday night in a hard-fought, physical game.
Ross Anderson and Webb put the black-and-gold up 2-0 heading into the third period. Webb then added his second of the game to make it 3-0 before Sisler replied with one.
Savage later tallied to make it 4-1. Sisler added a meaningless goal late in the game to round out the scoring.
“It was a very physical game,” Edwards said. “Sisler was a big, big hockey team but they didn’t succeed in intimidating us. Our guys played with a lot of heart.”
The Muskies had opened the tournament last Thursday night with a 5-1 win over the Vincent Massey Trojans, then trounced the Shaftesbury Titans 11-3 on Friday morning.
Savage scored twice against the Trojans while Lloyd, Coyle, and Don Kellar added singles.
Savage and Don Kellar each had hat tricks against the Titans while Tom Rose (two), Jon Rogoza, Coyle, and Niskala were the other Muskie snipers.
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