Joey Payeur
It wasn’t the preferred path into the quarter-finals but the Muskie girls’ hockey team will take it.
The 11th-seeded Muskies lost 6-0 to the top-ranked and two-time defending champion St. Michael Warriors this morning in their final Pool ‘A’ game at the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ championship in Stratford.
But with the Lambton Lancers (Petrolia) getting a 3-0 win over the Iona Dolphins (Mississauga), Fort High (1-1-1) grabbed second place in the pool to advance to the quarter-finals this afternoon.
The black-and-gold will face the Pool ‘B’ champion, which still was undetermined as of press time, at 1:15 p.m. (all times CDT).
The winner will move on to the semi-finals tomorrow at 7:15 a.m. against the survivor of today’s quarter-final between the Pool ‘C’ winner and the second-place team in Pool ‘D.’
The gold-medal game is set for noon tomorrow, with the bronze-medal game going at 12:15 p.m.
The Muskies opened play yesterday morning with a 3-2 win over Lambton.
Annalise (CC) Hayes tallied twice, including the game-winner with six minutes left in the third, while Jill Calder added the other goal.
Sydney Beck earned the win in net.
Then in their second game yesterday afternoon, the Muskies rack up shot after shot against Iona but have to rally late to salvage a 2-2 tie.
Lauren Hamilton opened the scoring in the second period, but the Dolphins snuck two quick goals past Muskie starter Kamryn Sandelovich in the third.
With under a minute to play, Muskie blueliner Sara Jackson scored on a bullet from the point.
Meanwhile, hometown hearts were heavy yesterday morning after the top-ranked and defending champion Muskie boys’ squad was eliminated from playoff contention at the OFSAA ‘A/’AA’ championship here with a 2-0 loss to the seventh-ranked Holy Cross Raiders (St. Catharines).
Fort High (1-1-1) was held to 0-for-6 on the power play while the Raiders (2-0-1) went 2-for-3 with man-advantage goals by Matthew Mines in the second and Saul Van Der Zalm in the third.
Eric Laflamme earned the shutout as the Raiders nabbed first place in Pool ‘A.’
Matt Booth took the loss between the pipes.
Fort High ended up third in Pool ‘A’ behind the 12th-seeded Immaculata Saints of Ottawa (1-0-2), who clinched a quarter-final berth with a 5-1 triumph over the No. 14-ranked O’Gorman Knights (0-3) from Timmins.
In the early quarter-finals last night, the fourth-ranked Belle River Nobles doubled the fifth-seeded Campbellford Flames 4-2 margin while Immaculata downed the eighth-ranked Hearst Nordiks 5-3.
The late games were not as close.
The ninth-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas Saints from Kenora were tied 1-1 in the second period but gave up six unanswered goals to fall 7-1 to the third-ranked St. Mary’s Crusaders (Hamilton).
The other contest saw Holy Cross earn a 5-0 shutout over the second-ranked Holy Trinity Titans (Courtice).
In the semi-finals earlier today, Belle River advanced to tonight’s gold-medal game with a 2-1 victory over Holy Cross.
The other semi-final saw St. Mary’s get past Immaculata 3-1.
The Nobles will square off against the Crusaders for the gold at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Holy Cross will challenge Immaculata for the bronze medal today at 5 p.m. at the IFK Arena.
