Staff
It may be all over but the crying for the Muskie boys’ hockey team.
Power-play goals by Matthew Mines in the second period and Saul Van Der Zalm in the third lifted the seventh-ranked Holy Cross Raiders (St. Catharines) to a 2-0 victory this morning over top-seeded and defending champion Fort High in the final game for both teams in Pool ‘A’ at the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ boys’ hockey championship.
Barring an upset win or tie for the 14th-ranked O’Gorman Knights (0-2) against the 12th-seeded Immaculata Saints (0-0-2) in a game that still was in progress at press time, the Muskies (1-1-1) will be eliminated from further contention.
Eric Laflamme recorded the shutout for the Raiders while Matt Booth was tagged with the loss.
The difference was special teams as Holy Cross went 2-for-3 on the power play while the Muskies were 0-for-6.
The Muskies had opened play yesterday with a 6-1 win over the Knights (Timmins).
Cam Gushulak scored twice in 16 seconds within the first minute of the second period to make it 4-0 and effectively put the game out of reach.
Chase McGuire, Landon Woods, Kendyn Faragher, and Mike Drouin added singles while Booth earned the win in net.
Austin Holmes had the lone goal for the Knights, with Draiden Hacquard taking the loss.
Fort High then pulled off a terrific comeback in its second game last night, erasing a 3-0 deficit to earn a 3-3 tie with the Saints (Ottawa).
Kyle Fleming’s natural hat trick in a span of 3:51 in the second period had Immaculata in control.
But Gushulak and Eric Pitkanen tallied 1:48 apart later in the frame before James Gushulak netted the equalizer with just over seven minutes remaining in the third.
Booth was in goal again for the Muskies while Nick Guerrette started for the Saints.
At the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ girls’ hockey championship in Stratford, meanwhile, the 11th-seeded Muskies opened play in Pool ‘A’ this morning with a 3-2 win over the sixth-ranked Lambton Lancers (Petrolia).
Annalise (CC) Hayes led the Muskies with two goals while Jill Calder notched the other one.
Hayes tipped in Abby Plourde’s point shot with just over six minutes left in the third for the game-winner.
Sydney Beck got the win in goal.
The Muskies faced the 16th-seeded Iona Dolphins (Mississauga) in their second game of the day (score unavailable as of press time).
They then will play the two-time defending champion and top-ranked St. Michael Warriors (Stratford) tomorrow at 8 a.m. (all times CDT).
The top two teams in each pool advance to the quarter-finals, which get underway at noon tomorrow.
The semi-finals are set for Friday starting at 7 a.m., followed by the gold- and bronze-medal finals at noon.
Editor’s note: In other hockey news, the Fort Frances Lakers opened their first-round, best-of-five “Survivor Series” with a 4-1 win over the host Thief River Falls Norskies.
Game 2 goes tonight in Thief River Falls before the series switches to the Ice For Kids Arena for Game 3 on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
