M’CHIGEENG – The Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) hockey teams are still pushing forward through their seasons with all of the determination that might be expected of a boys’ team fighting to put a game in the win column and a girls’ team that is facing more challenging competitors compared to last year’s undefeated season.
The boys’ team took part in the double-header on Friday, November 29 when the boys’ and girls’ teams faced down their competitors from Lo-Ellen on home ice in Little Current. The boys finished the game with a 1-1 tie while the girls fell 2-0.
Since then, boys’ coach Craig Abotossaway said the team has faced a few more losses, but the boys had put on a good showing despite the final outcome.
“In two of our three recent round robin games, we were leading going into the third period but came out with a loss in those games,” said Mr. Abotossaway. “We had good learning moments in those games. The kids are showing they can compete and showing they have the opportunities to win games.”
The boys also took part in the annual NDA hockey tournament in North Bay this past weekend. Their three games were ultimately defeats but Mr. Abotossaway said they brought that same strong drive and energy to the matches.
“We’re going to be working on our defence, how to play when we don’t have the puck, breakouts and power plays. Those are the top four things on our agenda right now,” said Mr. Abotossaway.
He said he was not overly concerned about the game outcomes because his boys have been showing they want to win—he just hoped the loss streak would not discourage the team.
“I think if anything, they’re showing promise and progressing at a steady rate. We’re definitely hopeful for the rest of the season,” said Mr. Abotossaway.
On the girls’ side, the team has played three round robin regular season games and lost two.
“Despite that, things are going really well because the two teams we lost to are number one and two in the league,” said girls’ team coach Mike Meeker.
Their face-off with Lo-Ellen’s team ended in a two-goal defeat but Mr. Meeker said that team would likely be a top OFSAA contender. A face-off against them in the pre-season resulted in a 7-0 defeat, so seeing the margin drop to 2-0 was a welcome sight for Mr. Meeker.
After the game, he sat and watched the boys play with the Lo-Ellen coach, who told him “’Mike, your girls are great. They gave us by far our biggest challenge all year.’ I was really happy to hear that,” said Mr. Meeker.
A game against Notre Dame was a 3-1 loss, but that team is considered second-best in the league.
“We only have one game in the win column but as far as I’m concerned, they won all three. They played really good hockey—if they didn’t, they would have been blowouts,” said Mr. Meeker.
He said he was particularly looking forward to next Thursday, December 19’s game against St. Charles, a team that will likely be among the league’s top three.
“They’re a strong team. We saw them in the east-west tournament; they’re very balanced and strong. It’ll be a real challenge for the girls. If we play the way we played against the last three, it’s going to be a really good game,” said Mr. Meeker.
Some other teams pose less of a challenge to the girl Mustangs. At these matches, Mr. Meeker said he enjoys turning them into learning opportunities such as having forwards play defence and vice versa. This will offer benefits in the future in case of injuries when players can step in and will have some experience in their fill-in spots.
Mr. Meeker said the main growth points for the girls will be goal scoring and defensive play in the team’s own end. At the St. Benedict’s game they had four breakaways but didn’t score on a single opportunity.
He added that his coaching staff is working very well together and he considers himself to have three excellent assistant coaches, when some teams cannot manage to draw a single assistant coach. With the three working on practices, some can oversee the exercises as a whole and Mr. Meeker can pull girls away from the main drills to work on specific skill exercises that address their own skills gaps.
Two of the coaches, Corey Karn and Leslie Taylor, have played for Mr. Meeker on his teams in the past. Through that they have already gained a thorough understanding of how he plays his game and can help realize his vision.
The teams will be breaking for the Christmas holiday soon and resuming in January, but not before a few final games in this decade.
