Photo Courtesy: Nav Mohan - 94.9 Radio Western

GOJHL

The London Nationals have already clinched a playoff spot, but they still have their eyes set on the regular season division crown to secure home ice for as long as possible. They are currently in second in the Western Conference after a surge from the Leamington Flyers saw them catapult up to the top spot with 60 points, while the Nats have 59. London were also idle this weekend, going a full week between games. They will host the St. Mary’s Lincolns on Wednesday night at the Western Fair Sports Centre, with six games remaining on the regular season schedule afterwards.

The St. Thomas Stars’ beat the St. Mary’s Lincolns on Friday 5-1 on the road. Jack Wieringa had a goal and two assists in the win for the Stars, who will not be in action again until Friday when they host the London Nationals.
The Komoka Kings clinched their playoff spot out of default over the weekend, as they came up short against the Chatham Maroons on Saturday losing 6-4. Dane Johnstone scored a hat trick for Chatham to aid them to victory. The Kings’ playoff spot came as a result of the Lincolns’ loss to the Stars, with eight of the nine teams making the playoffs in the GOJHL West. The Kings will host the Chatham Maroons on Thursday evening.

Western Mustangs

Hockey

The men’s hockey team were in Waterloo taking on the Warriors at the Columbia Ice Fields. The Warriors came into the game dead-last in the OUA West standings, while the Mustangs occupied the third seed. Those positions didn’t seem to matter on Friday though, as the Mustangs would fall to the Warriors 5-2. Down 2-0 in the second period, Kyle Petit scored his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay to cut the deficit in half, but the Warriors would score just minutes after that to restore the two-goal lead. Trevor Warnaar would make things interesting in the third with his seventh of the season, but Waterloo would add two more in the third to seal it.

On Saturday, the men’s hockey team were in Waterloo again this time taking on the Laurier Golden Hawks. It was a barn-burner down the 401 as the two teams erupted for 12 goals in the game. Ray Huether and Kyle Petit would score first period goals to match the two scored by Laurier to make it 2-2 after the opening frame. Four more goals were scored in the middle frame split between the two teams to make it 4-4 after 40. That would set up an exciting third period that would see Laurier score two goals, which would be the difference. The Mustangs would fall by a 7-5 final. The ‘Stangs have now lost three of their last four games as the end of the season approaches. They will look to right the ship this weekend as they host Lakehead for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.

It was a marquee matchup of the weekend between as the Western Mustangs women’s hockey team hosted the top-seeded Guelph Gryphons. Guelph came in on a five-game winning streak, not having lost a game on the road this season. The Mustangs were coming off an ugly 2-1 loss to Laurentian in their last game, trying to keep pace atop the OUA standings, coming in tied for second place. Guelph were, however, without their leading scorer and captain Caitlin Lowy who was third in OUA scoring with 24 points. The game was a back and forth affair with Guelph opening the scoring midway through the first period. Western would respond with a goal in the later stages of the period on the powerplay courtesy of Rachel Armstrong. After giving up a second-period powerplay goal to go down 2-1, the OUA’s leading goal-scorer April Clark would notch her 19th goal of the season to knot it up at two. The Mustangs would take five penalties in the final frame but would not get scored on any of them, as their penalty kill unit—who came into the game dead last in the OUA—went 8-9 on the night. The Mustangs would eventually take it in overtime with a nice play from Captain Evra Levesque who scored her third goal of the year. The Mustangs are now in sole possession of second place in the OUA, two points ahead of Ryerson and five back of the Gryphons now. Western has three games left in the regular season, two of which will be played this weekend. They will be at Laurier on Saturday, then will host the Waterloo Warriors on Sunday.

Basketball

On Wednesday evening, Alumni Hall was home to an exciting basketball doubleheader as the Mustangs men’s and women’s teams were hosting the Laurier Golden Hawks. For the women, the two teams were nearly identical on paper, with Laurier just four points ahead of Western in the standings. The game would start out the way of the Mustangs, who were hitting important shots and able to shut down the Golden Hawks’ attack. The purple and white won the first quarter 19-10. Laurier would find its stride after the opening frame though, outscoring the Mustangs in the remaining three quarters to ultimately take the game by a 61-54 score. Brianna Ianazzo would be the leading scorer for Laurier with 14 points on the night, while rookie Katie Bastedo had a team-high 13 points for the Mustangs with just a rebound shy of a double-double.

The men were looking to snap a five-game winning streak the Golden Hawks brought into town, as Western was trying to get back into the top spot in the OUA West after dropping a pair of games against Lakehead the weekend prior. The Mustangs started the game off flat, getting outscored 34-24 in the opening frame. The ‘Stangs would proceed to win the next two quarters as their defence improved, getting momentum from a couple of monstrous slam dunks from rookie and London native Aaron Tenant. It was no match for the Golden Hawks’ Ali Sow though, dropping 32 points on 11-16 shooting, with 22 points coming in the second half alone. It was the Mustangs’ third straight loss, which was a huge blow to them in their playoff positioning. Julian Walker had a team-high 17 points on 7-10 shooting for the Mustangs

On Saturday afternoon, the Mustangs made a trip to the Hammer to take on the McMaster Marauders. The ladies were in tough as McMaster led the OUA West coming into things with a 16-3 record. That would improve to 17-3 after they beat the Mustangs after a 65-41 win. It was a balanced effort from the Marauders, being led by Sarah Gates who had a game-high 19 points. The Mustangs leading scorer was Maddy Horst who had 13 points on 5-11 shooting along with six rebounds.
As for the men, they returned to their winning ways against McMaster, closing out a tight 88-85 win at Burridge Gym. Omar Shiddo had a game-high 24 points on 9-20 shooting while three other Mustangs had double-digit point totals. The win was a much needed one as they hold down the third spot in the OUA West, two points behind second-place Brock and four points back of top-seeded Laurier.

Both Mustangs teams will be in action Wednesday night when they host the Windsor Lancers.

Volleyball

On Friday, it was the first-ever School Day game for the Western Mustangs women’s volleyball team as Alumni Hall was packed with hundreds of London area school children to watch the ladies take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Lakehead came into Friday not having won since their first match of the year—11 straight losses. It was clear that the crowd energy motivated the Mustangs, as they absolutely dominated the T-Wolves every step of the way, not letting them score more than 14 points in a set, taking the match in three. Kelsey Veltman had an outstanding game for the purple and white, recording 11 kills with a .579 hitting percentage.

Saturday afternoon was the second half the a back-to-back between the Lakehead Thunderwolves and Western Mustangs women’s volleyball teams. If you’re wondering why the men weren’t in action this week, it’s because Lakehead does not have a men’s volleyball team. The thing with the Thunderwolves though, is because they are way up in Thunder Bay, they always play teams in a back-to-back scenario. Their last matchup saw them take the powerhouse McMaster Marauders to five sets in the second half of a back-to-back. Lakehead came out with a much better effort against Western on Saturday, scoring more than 14 points in a set for the first time all weekend, but still losing the opener 25-20. In the second set, they blistered out to a 10-0 lead over the Mustangs, shocking everyone in Alumni Hall. But some solid serving, along with a couple of ferocious spikes out of the middle from Veltman saw the Mustangs climb back into things, tying it up at 14-14. Western would go on to win the second set 25-19. The blown 10-point lead certainly deflated the Thunderwolves, as they had no answer for Western in the third, losing 25-15 and giving up the match in straight sets. Melissa Langegger was a force for the Mustangs on Saturday recording 11 kills and a team-high 13 digs.

The ladies now take sole possession of third place in the OUA West standings at 9-5 this season. Both men’s and women’s teams will be in action this Friday evening as they host the Windsor Lancers at Alumni Hall, 6pm for the women, 8pm for the men.