GRAVENHURST — The South Muskoka Shield will face King Wild in the first round of playoffs, which commence this Friday.
The Jr. A squad finished second in Greater Metro Hockey League regular season play after two recent wins. They missed the league’s top spot by only one point.
The Shield clinched the runner-up position with 72 points, behind the league champion Elliot Lake Bobcats with 73 points.
Last Tuesday, the Shield edged the Powassan Dragons 3-2 and then ended the season on a high note with a 6-2 victory over the Deseronto Storm Sunday at Gravenhurst Centennial Centre.
The Powassan game saw the Shield dominate in all areas of the rink. Both teams scored early. Scoring for the Shield were Dan Soderberg-Andersson, Chad Meagher and Jon Adams.
Between the pipes, Brett Sontag got the win despite allowing goals on the first two shots he faced. He settled in after that and made 26 consecutive saves.
“Our time of possession in the offensive zone was incredible,” said coach Dallyn Telford. “Our power play again looked sharp as we scored two goals with the man advantage.”
Even so, the Shield struggled to get the puck in the net.
“In the past three games, we have had 178 shots on net and only scored 13 times,” Telford said. “This group has never had a problem scoring goals.”
A focus for practices leading up to Sunday’s rescheduled game against Deseronto was shooting pucks on net, he added. “We need to find the touch around the net again and gain some confidence as this is the wrong time of year for a slump.”
The Deseronto match saw the return of lanky forward Matt Foley. Players Jon Kerr, Dylon Duivenvoorden and Chris Lane were healthy scratches.
The 6-2 final favouring the Shield was the team’s 73rd regular season win in 85 games over the past two seasons.
“What a great way to end the regular season,” he said. “We played a solid game from start to finish and earned our 35th win of the year. Everyone played well and stuck to our game plan and it paid off.”
Rob Sutherland played in net for South Muskoka. He set the all-time goaltender’s record for the season with the best goals against average of 1.7.
Soderberg-Andersson kicked off the scoring unassisted only 28 seconds in, but the Storm answered midway through the first period.
Rob Childs gave the Shield a 2-1 lead with help from Soderberg-Andersson and Adam MacBeth with less than five minutes remaining in the frame.
Dylan Sontag and Adams added two more in the middle frame to jump ahead 4-2 before Deseronto’s top scorer Brad Clark got a short-handed goal, unassisted.
Sontag and Soderberg-Andersson both added markers in the last period, while Sutherland held the Storm to their only two goals.
Sontag left the ice later that period after taking a hard hip check that threw his feet over his head. He has a slight ankle sprain and will be fine to open the playoff series against King on Friday.
Shots on goal were close with Sutherland facing 31 from Deseronto and the Storm’s Travis Elvin taking 36 shots on net.
“We did a fantastic job of shutting down Brad Clark, this year’s leading scorer who finished the year with a league record 127 points,” said Telford. Sontag placed fourth in the league with 85 points.
Looking forward to the best-of-five series against King Wild, Telford said the Shield must adapt its game plan to match its opponent’s physicality.
“King Wild is a physical team,” he said. “We’re not a physical team. I don’t think we ever have been. Our bread and butter is speed and we play on a decent sized ice surface, which makes it harder to be physical.”
South Muskoka and King split the only two games they played this season by the same 5-3 score.
“I think any first-round series will be tough for anybody,” he said. “Our mindset will be that we’re ready to play some close, physical games. We need to concentrate on beating them three times.”
Game 1 takes place Friday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Gravenhurst Centennial Centre, followed by Game 2 in King City on Saturday, Feb. 27. Game 3 returns to Gravenhurst on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. Game 4 and 5, if necessary, are still to be determined.
After this weekend, the Shield will no longer be able to play at Gravenhurst Centennial Centre due to the start of construction to expand the arena’s hockey dressing rooms and add an aquatic facility.
Shield general manager Gord Carey is working toward having the remainder of the team’s home playoffs games played at neighbouring arenas.