Gord Anderson
The Muskie boys’ hockey team did their part to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, a 9-2 win this morning over the Widdifield Wildcats (North Bay) wasn’t enough to advance out of Pool ‘B’ at the OFSAA ‘AAA/AAAA’ tournament being held in St. Catharines/Grimsby.
The Muskies ended up tied for second place with the St. Mary’s Warriors at 2-1-1—a team they had rallied to tie 4-4 in their second game of the tournament yesterday morning.
But St. Mary’s, who beat the Mayfield Mavericks 5-2 late this morning, earned the second berth out of Pool ‘B’ based on a better goals for/against differential.
Muskie head coach Shawn Jourdain said he wasn’t bothered by the fact their quarter-final hopes rested with the Mavericks upsetting the Warriors. Rather, he was more upset by the outcome of yesterday morning’s game versus St. Mary’s.
“What’s frustrating is not being able to beat St. Mary’s in that first game,” Jourdain noted after this morning’s win over Widdifield.
“We should have beaten them [the Warriors],” he stressed. “We were the better team and that’s the frustrating part.
“We should have beat them and then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Muskie Colton Spicer admitted he was on the edge of his seat waiting for the outcome of the game between St. Mary’s and Mayfield.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” he remarked. “It could be the last game of our season, you never know.”
Against the Wildcats this morning, the Muskies had the best chance to open the scoring on their second power play of the first period when Brendan Cawston made a cross-crease pass to Jeff Cridland, but he fanned on the shot.
Seconds later, Jeff Davis went in a shorthanded breakaway from the blueline but shot the puck wide of the left post.
Devin Goyer was the busier of the two goalies, turning away a number of Fort High chances while Devin Stromness was tested just four times in the first at the other end.
The Muskies’ desperation level was evident from the drop of the puck—and they finally were rewarded with a five-goal outburst in the second period.
Nick Jourdain opened the floodgates at 11:54 on the power play. Spicer added a pair while Donovan Cousineau and David Chambers notched the others.
“We played a pretty solid game,” Jourdain said. “We buried the puck and that’s something we’ve talked about all year long.
“We missed some chances early . . . but we came together.”
The Wildcats got on the board with 12.4 seconds left in second period when Kieran Peltier banged home a rebound during a goalmouth scramble.
Cody Doucette replaced Goyer in net to start the third.
Donovan Cousineau, Chris Cousineau, Spicer, and Nick Kaun finished off the scoring for the Muskies in the third.
The Wildcats got a their second goal in a very unusual way at 11:19 of the third.
Doucette, the goalie, was credited with the goal when Stromness left the net on a delayed penalty call.
He cleared the puck off a Muskies’ player and it rolled into the vacated net.
Big rally
Fort High earned their first win of the tournament last night by rallying for a 3-2 victory over Mayfield.
The Muskies relied on Stromness for the first two periods until they got their act together in the third with three-straight goals to edge the Mavericks and keep their quarter-final hopes alive.
Stromness was absolutely fabulous in the second, when the black-and-gold spent most of the time trying to get the puck out of their own zone.
“Devin played great,” lauded Jourdain. “That’s what goalies are supposed to do, keep you in games.
“He did more than his job and once we had a little chat in the room, well, it was a heck of a third period for us,” Jourdain added.
Both teams had two power plays in the first period, but the Mavericks capitalized on one of theirs with 5:49 left when Jamie Osmond tapped in a rebound.
Mayfield then grabbed the momentum in the second by punishing Fort High at every opportunity, delivering thundering body blows.
Michael Zozluk blasted Davis Smith at the Mayfield blueline. Seconds later, Devin Ball took a retaliatory minor for boarding when he hit Zozluk from behind in the Mavericks’ zone.
On the ensuing power play, Mayfield appeared to score at 8:48 but the goal was waved off.
Moments later, Tyler Haddrell drifted a shot from the point that Stromness mishandled, forcing him to dive back and knock the puck off the goal line.
With the Mavericks setting the pace, both offensively and physically, Fort High was hesitant at moving the puck.
Jourdain said getting the puck out of the defensive zone has been a problem all season long.
“Our biggest trouble all year has been in our own zone,” he admitted. “When we don’t move the puck quickly and get it out to our forwards, we have a tough time.”
Towards the back end of the second, the Muskie found their offensive legs and made a push but it didn’t mount much in terms of quality chances.
But three goals in 3:17 of the third period gave Fort High a 3-1 lead.
Donovan Cousineau’s wrist shot from the right circle beat Mavericks’ goalie Eric Faion at 12:16 before Spicer upped the lead to 2-1 less than three minutes later when he converted a Tyson McLean pass.
Nick Jourdain ended the outburst 57 seconds later on a wrist shot.
Ryan Huggins pulled Mayfield to within one with 29.8 seconds to go, but Fort Frances held on.
For Stromness, in his first start in this year’s tournament, it was a great win. But it also was about the opportunity.
“After playing a game like that, you want to go out there and play another game and help your team out as best you can,” Stromness said.
