Written By Brian Lockhart

It's been a while since local residents have seen senior hockey, but the Shelburne Muskies are back on the ice for the 2021/22 season.

They have a 20-game schedule – ten home games and ten on the road.

Senior AA hockey missed the entire last season due to the pandemic, and fans were excited to once again be in the arena for the opening games this year.

The first outing of the season pitted the Muskies against the Creemore Coyotes on Saturday, October 2, at the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex.

The Muskies were leading 3-0 after the first period.

Trevor VanAlstine opened the scoring for the Muskies on a breakaway effort. Luke Richardson and Jess Chidwick followed up with first period goals.

The Muskies went ahead 4-0 in the second frame on a goal from Brandon Richardson.

Creemore fought back in the third period with three goals to make it a 4-3 game with half of the period left to go.

Shelburne hammered their way through the rest of the game scoring three times.

Muskies goals came from Luke Richardson, Nick Glassford, and Blake Lovell.

A couple of late powerplays gave the Coyotes the opportunity to score two more, but the Muskies stayed in the lead and left the ice with a 7-5 score in their first game of the season.

The squad travelled to Palmerston the following weekend, Saturday, October 9, to take on the Minto 81's.

The Muskies played a good game but were blanked 5-0 for their first loss of the season.

That leaves the Shelburne team with a 1-1 record to start the season.

There are 13 teams in the League this season – all returning teams from the
previous season.

The Muskies will return to home ice at the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex on
Saturday, October 30, when they will host the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks.

Game time is 8:00 p.m.