Muskies win

Ever since their loss to Upper Canada College in the quarter-finals of last year’s OFSAA tournament in Sudbury, the Muskies had been looking forward to evening the score.
But a change in format, and some misunderstanding, prevented that from happening–at least in 2001.
Instead, the black-and-gold easily captured the inaugural ‘A/AA’ hockey title last Thursday night at Burlington Central Arena with a 5-2 win over the North Hastings Huskies (Bancroft).
The victory capped a perfect performance by the top-seeded Muskies, who went 3-0 in pool play before winning their quarter-final game 5-0 last Wednesday night and then 6-3 in the semi-finals earlier Thursday.
It was the team’s third provincial title, having also won gold in 1986 and right here on home ice in 1989.
But there’s some debate whether the Muskies should have even been playing in the ‘A/AA’ tournament.
This marked the first time the OFSAA tournament expanded from 16 to 32 teams–with 16 in the ‘A/AA’ division and the other 16 slotted in ‘AAA’ tournament.
“Each association was allowed to enter a team in each division,” said Peter Morris of Toronto, OFSAA’s Special Projects co-ordinator. “The forms went out but some of the associations did not understand the concept and submitted only one entry.
“[NWOSSAA] was one of those groups.
“When we saw the entry form come in [with the Muskies in ‘A/AA’], we went back to them and said is this what you want to do?” added Morris. “They said, yes, and there was nothing we could do about it.
“Once the association makes the decision, it’s final. The association runs their league and they decide who is going to represent them,” Morris stressed. “We just make sure the tournament happens and runs properly.”
Muskie head coach Glen Edwards confirmed the situation, stating there had been a misunderstanding and that NWOSSAA officials did not realize they could have registered the Muskies in the ‘AAA’ tournament and runner-up Dryden in the ‘A/AA’ portion.
“The tournament, from an organizational standpoint, was extremely well run, the people here did a fantastic job,” said Edwards. “The big thing with a tournament like this is the schedule.
“The way they had the schedule set up, everybody got the same consideration and the same amount of rest. It was just fantastic,” he stressed.
As far as their play was concerned, Edwards said he was really happy with the way his boys played.
“We came out victorious and that was our goal coming in here,” he remarked. “We worked hard. We had a bit of adversity out there but overall, our boys played very, very well right through the entire lineup.
“I can’t say enough about them. They just never quit,” he enthused.
The black-and-gold had rolled through Pool ‘A’ undefeated, out-scoring their opponents 24-3 in the three games.
They had opened play last Tuesday with a 9-1 win over 16th-ranked Sacred Heart (Stittsville). They beat the eighth-ranked Lakeshore Catholic Gators 6-0 that night, then finished pool play with a 9-2 win over the ninth-ranked Aldershot Aces (Burling-ton) on Wednesday morning.
They blanked the Sacred Heart Crusaders 5-0 in the quarter-finals later Wednesday, then advanced to the gold-medal game with a 6-3 win over the fourth-ranked Gen-eral Amherst Bulldogs (Amherst-burg) in the semi-finals earlier Thursday.
Adam McTavish led the Muskies offensively, scoring five goals and racking up 11 assists for 16 points in the six games (which also was tops in the tournament).
Kevin Webb–who set a team record for goals during the regular season–was next with 13 points (eight goals and five assists) while Ross Anderson made it a Muskie sweep for the top three scorers with 12 (seven goals and five assists).
Jeff Savge netted seven goals and two assists for nine points–good enough for fifth overall in scoring at OFSAA.
Meanwhile, goalies Blake Carl-son and Jamie Booth split duties between the pipes equally.
Booth, a 19-year-old OAC student and three-year veteran of the Muskies, recorded his sixth and seventh shutouts of the season at OFSAA. He posted a 0.67 goals against average there while Carl-son averaged 2.00 goals against per game.
While Booth will graduate and move on to the University of Manitoba, and possibly the Bisons’ hockey team, Carlson is a grade 12 student at Fort High and should be back for another crack at an OFSAA title.
But now is too soon to tell.
“It’s hard to say [how many will leave] but we are going to lose, I think, at least 10, maybe up to a dozen, maybe even more,” noted Edwards, who won his first gold medal as head coach. “It depends if some of the kids go junior next year or not.
“We are going to lose the guts of this hockey team [so] that’s why it was such a special year for all of us,” he added. “But there is always next year, and there’s another crop of kids coming up, and we’re looking forward to working with some younger kids.”