Muskies sharp in exhibition loss

Just remember: In exhibition play, the score isn’t really all that important.
Good thing, too. Otherwise an 11-4 drubbing at the hands of the Borderland Selects here on Saturday night might leave the Muskie boys’ hockey team feeling a little dismayed heading into the all-Ontarios next week.
In a game designed to keep the Muskies sharp during their near month-long layoff prior to the provincial tournament, the black-and-gold took the ice against a team made up of current junior and college players—most of whom have ties to the area.
The game provided the Muskies the chance to work on most every aspect of their game—from power play puck movement and penalty-killing to the open-ice play of a 4-on-4.
Selects’ head coach Mark McCaig is confident the game was a benefit to the Muskies, who will make their fifth-straight OFSAA appearance April 2-5 in Ottawa.
“[Muskie head coach Shane] Bliss wanted to push the Muskies a little bit and obviously that was achieved,” said McCaig. “The point was to give the Muskies a chance for some game action.”
McCaig stressed his instruction to the Selects’ players were fairly simple heading into the contest.
“We told them that were weren’t looking for big, open-ice contact,” he remarked. “I told them, ‘We want you to move the puck around and get them skating.’”
Saturday night’s exhibition showdown was a boon for the team for another reason, as well.
“The game was fairly successful, but the fundraising was 100 percent successful,” said McCaig, noting a nice amount of money was raised for the team between the ticket sales and 50-50 draw.
“It will help to defray some of the costs in heading to OFSAA,” he explained.
The Muskies opened the game by taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals by Taylor Jorgensen.
But that lead was quickly eclipsed by 10 unanswered goals by the Selects, including a hat-trick from AJ Tucker, who was on loan for the game from the St. Scholastica Saints of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.
“The team I was coaching was older and stronger [than the Muskies],” remarked McCaig. “They have more experience.”
And that experience showed in their patience and puck movement as the game progressed.
“They weren’t looking to embarrass anyone,” McCaig stressed. “There was a point in the game where the boys backed off.
“They were pretty classy about it.”
McCaig also indicated the score should not be a harbinger of what the Muskies will face at OFSAA.
“Traditionally, even back to when I was playing with the Muskies, during this kind of a break you play a local old-timers’ team,” he noted.
“There was no expectation that the Muskies were going to beat these guys,” McCaig continued. “The Muskies had some 15-year-olds on the ice against some 23-year-old guys.”
The exhibition game also allowed some of the younger Muskies to see some ice time prior to the all-Ontarios.
David Moen took his usual place in goal for the Muskies, for example, but Grade 9 back-up Devin Stromness saw action late in the game for the Selects, coming in to replace Joe Bodnar.
Bodnar spent time as the goalie for the Fort Frances Canadians Midget ‘AA’ team in addition to practising with the Muskies over the past few weeks.
The two teams originally were scheduled to play a two-game tilt (with the second one scheduled for this coming Friday night). But with the Easter long weekend over, many players have returned to their studies or to other commitments.
Still, there’s something in the works for the Muskies.
“On Friday night we are going to have an abbreviated game,” said McCaig. “It will be a black-and-white intersquad game that might be a little more like the competition they will face at OFSAA.”