GOJHL

The London Nationals are closing their regular season schedule on a tear, scoring 16 goals over their two games this past weekend. On Saturday, they would go shot-for-shot against the Strathroy Rockets, eventually pulling away with a 8-5 win. Adam Keyes had a six-point performance with a goal and five assists; Wes Dobbin had a goal and three assists; and Clin Wilson would record two goals and a helper. On Family Day, the Nats dominated the LaSalle Vipers 8-2. London’s top line of Christian Polillo, Cal Davis and Riley MacRae combined for 11 points on the evening: Davis had two goals and three assists; Polillo had three assists and MacRae had two goals and an apple. The offensive surge gives London their fourth straight win, as they look to close in on the conference-leading Leamington Flyers, now trailing by a single point. London’s last week of competition will see them host the St. Thomas Stars on Wednesday, then the St. Mary’s Lincolns on Saturday to close out the 48-game regular season.

The St. Thomas Stars split their weekend set, first falling to the Chatham Maroons 3-2 in overtime on Sunday evening. The Stars would then upset the Leamington Flyers 6-3 on Monday, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period, two of which came off the stick of Russell Oldham. The Stars will close out their season against against London and Sarnia.

The Komoka Kings also split their weekend set, first falling 8-3 to the LaSalle Vipers on Saturday. On Monday, the Kings doubled up the Strathroy Rockets 6-3. Six Kings players had multi-point nights, while Nathan Young made 20 saves in the crease for the win. Komoka will close out their regular season schedule by visiting LaSalle on Wednesday, then hosting Leamington on Saturday.

 

Western Mustangs

Hockey

Thursday evening was Game #1 of the OUA West quarterfinals with the Western Mustangs hosting the Laurier Golden Hawks. Western finished the regular season with the third spot in the OUA West. There may have been some question marks surrounding the purple and white heading into Round 1, which were not helped by the first two periods of Thursday’s game, which saw no goals between the Mustangs and the Golden Hawks. Then the third period got interesting. Just over five minutes into the final frame, Stephen Desrocher fired a point shot that had eyes and fortuitously bouncing in the Mustangs favor for the opening marker. Just moments after that, Laurier would tie it on the powerplay with a goal from Anthony Conti. Ray Huether would put the Mustangs up again with about six minutes left in the third, putting his team on lead-protection mode. It would backfire though, with Laurier tying it up with just over a minute left in regulation. Towards the end of the third period though, a scrum after the play resulted in Jake Henderson of the Golden Hawks being ejected with a five minute major penalty for kicking. That would put Western on the powerplay heading into OT, where Spenser Cobbold would score the game-winning goal just minutes into overtime to give the Mustangs a 1-0 series lead. Game #2 of the Mustangs men’s hockey team’s playoff series on Friday night in Waterloo. Laurier would be without the services of Jake Henderson who was suspended after being ejected in Game #1, but replacing him was Mack Graham, who scored all three of his regular season goals against the Mustangs. Western would get on the board first with a Rylan Bechtel point shot that beat Olivier Lafreniere in the first period. The ‘Stangs would add two more in the second period, with Ethan Szypula picking up his first OUA Playoff goal, and Kolten Olynek scoring towards the later stages of the period to go up 3-0. It looked as if the Mustangs were in control, that is, until minute 39 of the game. Laurier’s captain Will Cook would score a powerplay goal while a delayed penalty was pending, giving the Golden Hawks another powerplay after the goal. Less than 30 seconds later, Laurier would score again with 13 seconds left in the frame to go into the second intermission trailing just 3-2. The outburst didn’t faze the Mustangs though, as they locked it down in the third period, with Luke Peressini making some astounding saves to preserve the 3-2 lead all the way until the end, giving the Mustangs the series sweep over the Laurier Golden Hawks.

The Mustangs women’s hockey team closed out their regular season on Saturday in Windsor against the Lancers. The game was meaningless in the standings as Western had already locked up second place in the OUA. The Lancers were dead last in the OUA, not having won in regulation all year long. On game 24 out of 24, the Windsor Lancers would pick up their first and only regulation win 3-1 over the Mustangs. Rachel Armstrong would pick up a powerplay marker in the first period with an assist going to April Clark. The Lancers would score two in the second and an empty netter to close out their season on a high note. The Mustangs are still off to the playoffs though, looking to defend their provincial crown. They will play the Waterloo Warriors in round 1 of the McCaw Cup playoffs, with Game #1 being played Wednesday night at Thompson Arena.

 

Basketball

Western Mustangs basketball teams were also closing out their regular season on Saturday afternoon hosting the McMaster Marauders. Starting with the women, the good news is that Julia Curran was back in the lineup, playing in her seventh game of the season. The bad news was that they were playing the third ranked team in the country, and the best team in their division. The Mustangs suffered their worst loss of the season, falling 98-44.

The men on the other hand, had already clinched second in the OUA West with the results from the previous night, but were still facing a McMaster team who were desperate to host a playoff game. The Marauders came out with a strong start, leading the Mustangs by 10 at half. Western would chip away at the lead, making it a one point game heading into the fourth quarter. McMaster would eventually win it in the last minute, not for lack of effort by the Mustangs to escape Alumni Hall with an 88-87 win. Jedson Tavernier was honoured prior to the game alongside teammate Alex Coote as they are both fifth-year players who suited up for their last regular season game in a purple and white jersey. The loss is inconsequential for the Mustangs, who have a whole week to prepare for their OUA quarter final game where they’ll host either the Brock Badgers or the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

 

Volleyball

The Mustangs volleyball teams had a pair of road matches this past weekend, first taking on the York Lions in Toronto on Saturday. The women’s team would play a five-set thriller, fending off the loss in set #4 by holding the Lions to just 9 points, forcing a fifth. Western would narrowly escape in the final set, needing extra points 16-14. The ladies had a team hitting percentage of .206 compared to the Lions .094. The men’s team tamed the Lions in three sets on Saturday, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-20. On Sunday, the teams trekked up to North Bay to play the Nipissing Lakers. The women’s team swept the Lakers in three sets while the men needed four. The women’s team now sits in second place in the OUA West, having won their last six matches in a row. The men’s team is tied for second in their division, sporting an 11-4 record, winning their last four contests in a row. The teams will close out their regular season schedules with a pair of home games this weekend, first hosting the Waterloo Warriors on Friday, then the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday, with 6pm starts for the women and 8pm for the men.

 

Curling

The Western Mustangs curling team won the bronze medal at the OUA curling championships this past weekend, defeating the Ryerson Rams 7-2 in the third place game. The Mustangs will now head to Fredericton in a couple of weeks for the U Sports National Curling Championship hosted by the University of New Brunswick.

 

Badminton

The Western Mustangs Badminton team were participating in the OUA Championships this past weekend as hosted by the UOIT Ridgebacks in Oshawa, Ontario. Western would advance to the semi-finals, but lost to the eventual champion Toronto Varsity Blues 6-0. The Mustangs would then face off with the Waterloo Warriors in the bronze medal match. The two would play to a 5-5 tie, with Western eventually winning the tiebreaker 12-11 to capture their second straight bronze medal. Sean McGowan, Kristy Chan and Samantha Zheng were all named OUA all-stars for the purple and white.

 

Figure Skating

Last week was the OUA figure skating championships as hosted by the Queen’s Gaels in Kingston. Western would lead the tournament after two days of competition, but the Toronto Varsity Blues would storm back in the final day to take their fourth straight championship. Western would finish second, nine points back of the Varsity Blues, with the McMaster Marauders finishing with the Bronze. The Mustangs would finish first in six events, and make the podium in 10 of the 14 total skates. Natalie Li won gold in the freeskate, and was named an OUA All-star, Emily Bird and Anna Cappuccitti took the Star similar Dance and were named all-stars, Denis Margalik won the men’s freestyle and was named an all-star, the team of Clara Campbell, Paige Cooper, Natalie Li, Madison Shaw were all named OUA all-stars for finishing first in the freeskate fours, Jazz Smyl Joly won the gold solo dance and got all-star honours, with Smyl Joly also winning Star 10 similar dance with teammate Alexa Shelley. Western’s coach Alma Moir, mother of Scott Moir, was named the OUA Coach of the Year.