M’CHIGEENG—With its victory in a home game last Friday evening, the Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) Mustangs boys’ hockey team clinched a playoff berth in the A division playoffs, and have secured a guaranteed spot in the Northern Ontario Secondary School Association (NOSSA) playdowns.
“We won Friday (in a game played in Little Current) 5-4 against Confederation to clinch a playoff spot in the upper half of the A division, finishing in fourth place overall,” said Mustangs coach Brad Bond. “We needed to win to clinch fourth place, or we would have had to take part in a one-game playoff against Notre Dame. And (with the win) we guaranteed ourselves a spot in the NOSSA double A or triple A championships. I think in the past 15 years we have only gone to NOSSA either twice or three times, so it is quite an accomplishment.”
The Mustangs will face off against St. Charles (who finished first in the league standings) in the first round of the playoffs. The best two out of three series will start after exams at the schools, so start the week of February 8. Mr. Bond pointed out how tight the league standings were this year, noting the difference among teams who finished first to fourth was only two points. “I’ve talked to other coaches, the league convener and others and no one has seen the league standings as close as they were this year.”
“We won the tournament in North Bay earlier this year, and now we have qualified for NOSSA, so it’s been a very good season so far,” said Mr. Bond.
MSS will also be taking part in a tournament being held in Burlington the first week in February.
The MSS Mustangs girl’s team will place first or a very close second in league standings after winning its last game of the year.
“We beat LoEllen in the final game of the regular season 4-1,” said Mustangs coach Mike Meeker. “It was a good game. They (LoEllen) have a really good goalie and she played really well. We outplayed them by a lot.”
MSS finished with a regular season record of eight wins, two losses and two ties, and while it is unclear until Bishop Carter plays its final game, the Mustangs either finished first in the league standings or a very close second. “I think we finished first but Bishop Carter had one game left and so that could change,” Mr. Meeker explained.
Mr. Meeker said last week MSS played a league game against Bishop Carter. “We ended up tying them but we didn’t play well at all in the first two periods. We were down 4-1 after the second period and the girls knew I was upset with the way we were playing.”
However, “the line of Kennedy Lanktree, Kylie Cranston and Robin Lentir went out on the first shift of the third period and scored three goals,” said Mr. Meeker. “Then we’d score a good goal and they (Bishop Carter) would score a goal.” The game ended in a 6-6 tie.
“No, at this point we don’t know who we will be playing against or when in the playoffs,” said Mr. Meeker. “Fortunately we will be getting one player, Anna Migwans back, we didn’t have her playing the last four games. It will certainly help having her in the lineup in the playoffs.”
