As the regular season winds down this week, the Mifflinburg hockey team is quietly closing in on a very impressive three-year streak.
Assuming a likely home win over Warrior Run today, over the past three seasons the Wildcats will have gone 36-0 against six of the other seven Susquehanna Valley League teams. That's an incredible stretch of success in a generally strong league. But while that may qualify the Wildcats as an elephant in the SVL room -- and as we mix our beasts-of-the-jungle metaphor -- there's still the 800-pound SVL gorilla out there: Selinsgrove.
While Mifflinburg has racked up a gaudy record against those other SVL teams, the Wildcats are only 1-5 against the Seals since 2005.
"Why we haven't beaten them, I don't know," sighed Mifflinburg coach Ann Beckley. "Since I've been coaching at Mifflinburg, almost all the games (against Selinsgrove) have been close. I think there used to be a stigma with (playing) certain teams, but I don't think that's the case any more."
Despite that optimism, it's been a tough go for the Wildcats against the Seals. In 2005 the teams split during the regular season in their head-to-head meetings, with both finishing 13-1 in the SVL. Selinsgrove won the first game 3-2 and Mifflinburg the second, 2-1 in overtime. They were named league co-champions after a title game was cancelled by bad weather.
The differential was somewhat wider in 2006, when the Seals -- who went 25-1 and reached the PIAA Class AA semifinals in their finest season -- won by scores of 6-0 and 2-0.
This fall featured two terrific games, but the result was the same sad story for Mifflinburg, with losses of 2-0 at home and 2-1 on the artificial surface at Selinsgrove. Beckley believes her players are ready to take the next step.
"I think the girls feel they can play with them, and I think they proved that this year on the turf," she said. "Their coach (Cathy Keiser) complimented us on having played a good turf game, so that should help our confidence. We just need to generate some more offense against them, and that's something we'll be working on over the next couple of weeks."
Beckley was alluding to the District 4 Class AA tournament -- with the semifinals and finals played on the turf at Bucknell's Graham Field -- which is likely to look very much as it did the past two years: an eight-team field, with Selinsgrove seeded No. 1 and Mifflinburg No. 2. That conceivably sets up a third Seals-Wildcats clash, this time for all the marbles: a trip to states.
But the fly in the ointment -- yet another animal metaphor! -- the past two years is there again this season: Midd-West.
The Mustangs are the only other team the Wildcats haven't beaten lately. The past two years, as the No. 3 seed in districts, Midd-West has defeated Mifflinburg both times in the semifinals (2-1 in double overtime in 2005, 2-1 in regulation in 2006). The 2007 bracket will almost certainly feature the same three top seeds, in the same order.
Several SVL coaches have remarked that they think this year's Mifflinburg team is as talented as Selinsgrove, and a comparison of scores against common opponents seems to validate the claim. But as much as we'd all like to see another Mifflinburg-Selinsgrove clash of the titans, Midd-West will almost certainly have a say in the matter. Beckley admitted as much.
"If I could have my way I'd hope not to see Midd-West again, because they're a team that always improves as the season moves on," she said. "But we are hoping to see Selinsgrove again. Yes we are."
n E-mail comments to mcorbett@dailyitem.com.
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