The Muskies didn’t quite have the tournament they were hoping for, returning home following an early exit from the OFSAA boys’ hockey championship in Ottawa.
Their dream of OFSAA gold came to a crashing halt Friday morning when they lost a narrow 3-1 battle to the John McCrae Bulldogs during the final game of the round-robin.
Fort Frances, seeded eighth and playing in Pool ‘B,’ needed to win by at least four goals to have the chance of moving on to the quarter-finals later that afternoon.
Penalties once again were very costly for the Muskies, who found themselves in the “sin bin” seven times Friday morning against the 14th-ranked Bulldogs, who took advantage by netting a pair of power-play goals, including the game-winner.
The Muskies had power-play chances of their own, but were unable to capitalize on any of them. They finished the tournament with a 1-3 record and a minus-four goal differential.
“Not enough guys wanted to play today,” Muskie head coach Shane Bliss said after the loss. “We did not play good enough to win any hockey game.”
The Muskies lacked shots on net and good quality scoring chances.
“We had no meaningful shots,” Muskie forward Mike McCaig said. “And we could not bury our few opportunities.
“Our shots where not hitting the net when we needed them,” agreed Muskie captain Ryan Witherspoon.
Bliss attributed Friday’s loss to the Bulldogs to selfish play on the part of his players. “We had a lot of selfish play; too many selfish penalties and selfish players not moving the puck,” he remarked.
“We never had five players on the ice on the same page,” he added.
One strong point for the Muskies throughout the tournament was their goaltending. David Moen played outstanding to keep them in the final game.
The Bulldogs outshot the Muskies—and Moen was up to the task by only allowing two goals (their third goal was an empty-netter).
The first period was very back-and-forth, with both goalies standing tall for their teams stopping every shot they faced.
Fort Frances scored first in the second period when Riley Caul smashed home a loose puck in front of the net in the early minutes of the frame.
But with just under four minutes left in the second, and with the Bulldogs on the power play, Brent Norris scored to tie the game.
Then with only a few minutes remaining before intermission, Blake Wepruk laid a crushing body check that sent McCrae’s Cody Rissle flying over the boards and into the penalty box.
As the period ended, McCaig tried to pass the puck to a teammate but instead clipped a Bulldog player with the puck in the shin after the buzzer.
As the Bulldog player approached to confront him, McCaig cross-checked him to the ice—receiving a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
“I was going over to apologize to him but he threatened me as he approached,” said McCaig. “So I cross-checked him to defend myself.”
The Bulldogs started the third period with a power play and took full advantage as Pat Cameron scored the eventual game-winning goal. Doug McGregor added a short-handed empty-net goal later in the period to seal the deal.
The win gave McCrae a second-place finish in Pool ‘B’ while the Muskies were sent packing. The Bulldogs advanced to face the top-seeded St. Michael’s College Blues in the quarter-finals.
McCrae couldn’t continue their winning ways, though, as St. Mike’s earned a 4-1 win on their way to an eventual showdown against the Denis Morris Redmen out of St. Catharines in the tournament final.
The Redmen beat the Blues 4-2 to take home the title of provincial champion.
The Muskies had opened play last Wednesday with a 5-3 win over the 19th-ranked Ancaster Royals, but then lost both their games Thursday—falling 2-1 to the ninth-ranked Grand River Renegades in the afternoon and then 6-3 to the third-ranked A.B. Lucas Vikings that night.
Bliss believes that next season will be “an exciting year with a lot of new faces on the Muskies.”
Editor’s note: Eric Scharf is a journalism student at Algonquin College in Ottawa.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
