The Fort Frances High School Muskie hockey teams will head to the NORWOSSA playoffs tomorrow in Sioux Lookout with hopes of qualifying for the A/AA Ontario high school hockey championships.
The Muskie girls finished top of the NORWOSSA standings and will play the Beaver Brae Broncos, while the Muskie boys finished in second and will play the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints in the semi-finals.
Girls head coach Jordan Larson said he’s pleased with how the season has gone, a hot start keying the team to a good NORWOSSA season.
“Overall, we’ve had a very successful season, I think,” Larson said. “Early in the year winning back-to-back tournaments in Winnipeg and at home really started us off on the right foot and I think it was able to give us confidence early which we carried on throughout the whole season.”
“In the last month I think we’ve really come together, especially with tough league games vs TA (Thomas Aquinas) and Dryden. Clinching first place is nice, but now in the playoffs it really means nothing and hopefully we are able to cap off our year with a trip to OFSAA.”
The Muskie boys were in a bit of a rebuilding year from the start, having lost several senior and super senior players in addition to players who opted to play elsewhere this year. The team had to fill the gaps left behind with fresh blood, according to head coach Chris Sinclair.
“We’ve been pretty happy with how our season has gone,” Sinclair said. “We knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be easy on us this year as we had a lot of new faces to the program and team and a lot of younger players. We lost 15 players from last year and only had six players who had played at this level prior to this season.”
“So, when you look at our overall record of 19-9-4-2 (wins-losses-overtime losses-ties) I’d say we fared pretty well. We’re a team that has grown a lot over the season and have gained experience and confidence and it shows with our play. Since the Christmas break, we’ve gone 11-1-3-0 and although we ended our season with an overtime loss that put us into second place in NORWOSSA league play, I think we’ve learned from mistakes and understand the importance of playing a 60-minute game, especially in a playoff elimination game.”
The regional body shifted from a multi-game playoff series format a few years ago to a single game elimination, four-team tournament that has shifted around the region. Despite having no teams qualified, Sioux Lookout will be hosting the playoff tournament this year with games taking place Friday and Saturday this week.
Both teams have been practicing with their final games well behind them while the other teams have wrapped up their regular seasons, Sinclair says they’ve been focussed on cleaning things up ahead of the one and done tournament.
“Practices have been good the past couple weeks since our last game. There are obviously areas that we’ve been trying to focus on to clean up in preparation for this weekend but also want to keep the energy and excitement trending in a positive direction,” he said.
“These past few practices we’ve been focusing a lot on our systems and how we need to play defensively. Now that we finally know our opponent of TA in the first round, we’ll spend a little time focusing on their strengths and tendencies and how we can shut them down and give ourselves a chance at defending the NORWOSSA championship against Dryden or Red Lake in the finals.”
The boys split the season series with the Saints this season, with the win coming 7-3 in the first game of the season, and a 5-4 overtime loss later in the year.
The winner will face either Dryden or Red Lake in the final. The Muskies split the season series with Red Lake with a 5-2 loss in December and an 8-0 win at home in January. They have lost to Dryden in overtime twice with a 6-5 loss on the road in January and a 4-3 loss in the season finale.
The Muskie girls will take on the Beaver Brae Broncos in the semifinals Friday at 4 p.m. in the NORWOSSA regular season the Muskies handled the Broncos easily with wins of 17-0, 18-0, and 14-0.
They will go on to face the winner between Dryden and TA. Though TA will be favoured based on team records, they did lose to Dryden 5-1 in a Feb. 5 matchup.
The Muskie girls split the season against the Saints, losing 3-1 early in the season and winning 4-3 in their recent home contest.
Larson says practices since the end of the regular season have gone well and the girls team looks to be in good shape.
“Practices have been awesome the past two weeks,” he said.
“Last week was definitely challenging for the girls, we pushed them hard and brought the compete level up and this week we’ve been just going over team tactics to be ready for the playoffs. I’m really happy with the work the girls have put in and you get the feeling they are ready for the weekend.”
Sinclair says the Muskie boys will rely on their leaders to help the group through the tough playoff battles.
“As mentioned, many players on this team haven’t been in this type of situation before. So we’re going to rely on our leaders and returning players to support and provide guidance to the new players as we enter the weekend,” Sinclair said.
“One of the biggest messages I’ve been stressing is to just play hockey. It’s easy to get caught up in the pressure and make mistakes. The more that we can focus on playing our game and playing to our strengths, the better off we’ll be. Of course you have to be a little more cautious, but if you start to worry and panic, that’s where mistakes are made. Having said that, playoff games are different from any other game. The guys need to come prepared and ready to battle. They need to realize the importance of these games and play with urgency and intensity for a full 60 minutes, if we can do little things like minimize turnovers at the blue lines, win board battles, pressure the puck to force turnovers, I think we’ll be able to put ourselves in a good spot.”
The Muskie girls, who have 11 returning players from the team that captured the championship last year against the Saints, will rely on that experience to get them through the playoffs.
“I think we have a veteran group, 11 girls were with us last year and they need to be the leaders in high stress moments this weekend,” Larson said.
“My main message is to stay calm, enjoy it, treat it like every other game. And ultimately if we play our brand of hockey, I like our chances. We have to compete for 60 full minutes Friday. If we are able to move on then we need to compete for 60 minutes again Saturday.”
The road trip brings pros and cons for both teams. Sinclair says that there is a pro in that none of the teams in the playoffs have home ice advantage.
“Although we have a lengthy bus ride to Sioux Lookout, our schedule allows us to rest and fully prepare. We don’t play until 6 p.m. We’re going to leave in the morning so we get there early in the afternoon. We’ll give ourselves time to have a team lunch, check into the hotel, and relax a little before heading to the rink to hopefully take care of business,” Sinclair said.
“I think the one positive of the playoffs being in Sioux Lookout this year, is that no one has home ice advantage. All four teams, us, TA, Dryden, and Red Lake all have to travel and are all in the same position and there’s not going to be a whole community in the crowd to support just one team.”
For the girls’ part, Larson is optimistic that the whole season will have the girls in the right frame of mind to play after a road trip.
“I think the girls are looking forward to a bus trip with one another,” he said. “We’re so used to travelling, whether it’s league games, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay we’ve done it all year. And I think the girls are very focused right now, so I know they’ll just be very excited to get there and start playing.”
Both teams will look to book their tickets to southern Ontario over the weekend. The boys are hoping to be headed for Belleville, and the girls will be hoping for a trip to Cobourg with both tournaments scheduled March 24-26.
