Mitch Calvert
Next stop: North Bay.
Okay, that may be a tad premature, but it’s hard not to predict a trip to the all-Ontarios for this year’s Muskie boys’ hockey team on the eve of their best-of-three opening-round playoff showdown with the Kenora Broncos that begins tomorrow (Feb. 26) at 7:45 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena. Game 2 will go Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. in Kenora, with Game 3, if necessary, coming back here Tuesday night.
The Muskies closed out the regular season in style with a pair of victories over the Red Lake Rams here Friday night (13-4) and Saturday afternoon in Emo (4-1) to finish atop the NorWOSSA standings with an 11-1 record.
Assistant coach Ken Christiansen said the close game Saturday was just what the doctor ordered for a team needing to face a little more adversity.
“They [the Rams] gave us a competitive game, a game we’ve needed for quite a while now, and it was a good game for both teams,” Christiansen noted.
“We’re really happy with the way the weekend went. All the kids worked hard,” he added.
Red Lake actually opened the scoring Saturday on their first shift—and looked to make it 2-0 midway through the frame but a questionable disallowed goal for a player in the crease halted their momentum.
“We tried to warn the boys that they better be ready, and Red Lake comes out with a goal first shift,” Christiansen remarked. “[Red Lake] battled all the way and it made for a good game to watch, a good game to coach, and a good game to play.”
The disallowed goal seemed to take a lot of wind out of Red Lake’s sails as Devin Ball banged home his own rebound less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1.
Taylor Jorgenson made it 2-1 with the only goal of the second period off a poor clearing attempt by the Rams, but Red Lake continued to press until Mike Jourdain ripped a wrist shot through Devin Fiegl’s pads six minutes into the third to all but salt away the win.
“When Jourdain scored to make it 3-1, you could see a letdown for them and we kind of took over the game after that,” noted Christiansen. “They are a good team, and if they beat Dryden and we get past Kenora, they’ll give us a good go [in the NorWOSSA final].”
Donovan Cousineau capped the scoring with a highlight-reel goal just over three minutes later when he froze the defence with a fake slapper before dekeing to the outside and snapping a shot high to the blocker side.
The Muskies rolled with just four defencemen for most of Saturday’s game after Chris Cousineau left early with a back ailment. Robbie Rae already was on the shelf with a shoulder injury.
“Never know with a back or shoulder,” Christiansen said of the possibility the two will suit up for tomorrow night’s playoff opener.
Friday night’s game was a much different story as the Rams seemed to be asleep in the first period. Before they knew it, they found themselves down 4-0 before the game was 14 minutes old.
“We caught them right off the bus, and I think that had a lot to do with it,” Christiansen reasoned. “They scored three quick ones on us in the second, but their coach said he had a little talk with them [after the game Friday], and they came out hard [Saturday].”
Zach McCool netted two goals to go with two assists while Brett McMahon and Ryan Shortreed also scored twice. Kyle Herr, Cousineau, David Chambers, Josh Scott, Blake Wepruk, Matt DePiero, and Jorgenson all notched singles.
Skyler Desserre scored twice for the Rams in that one, with Brock Helgeson and Kyle Pace netting the other goals.
The Muskies again got balanced scoring throughout their lineup—which has been a positive trend for the team over the last half of the season.
“We’ve changed things around just to get more speed on each line and every line is getting lots of scoring chances,” Christiansen noted. “A lot of boys from different lines scored Friday, and everyone was getting chances [Saturday].”
The black-and-gold were ousted from last year’s OFSAA tournament in Ottawa with a narrow 3-1 loss to the John McCrae Bulldogs during the round-robin portion. They’re looking to make a longer run this year in North Bay.
“It’s a tough go down there, seven games in four days, and an injury here or there and things can change in a hurry,” Christiansen warned. “If we continue our skating, and straighten up our defensive play a little bit, I think we’ll be OK, but first we have to take care of our own league.”
The Muskie girls, meanwhile, open their best-of-three semi-final series with the Kenora Broncos here Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the ’52 Canadians Arena.
Game 2 will go Sunday at 4 p.m. in Keewatin, with Game 3 (if necessary) to follow here next Tuesday (March 3) at 4:30 p.m.
The black-and-gold ended the NorWOSSA regular season with four-straight losses to finish at 5-5-2, including a 4-3 setback to the Broncos back on Feb. 13.
