Photo Courtesy: Nav Mohan - 94.9 Radio Western

 

GOJHL

The London Nationals closed out the GOJHL regular season with a 3-1 win over the St. Mary’s Lincolns on Saturday. George Diaco would be involved in all three goals, scoring two of them and assisting on the other. The Nats couldn’t catch Leamington for top spot in the conference, so they will go into the playoffs as the second seed, finishing with a 33-12-1-2 record.

The St. Thomas Stars fell to the Sarnia Legionnaires 5-3 in their season finale. St. Thomas finishes the season with a 17-24-3-4 record, holding the seventh seed in the conference.

The Komoka Kings fell to the Leamington Flyers 6-2 to close out the season. The Kings had a 20-23-2-3 record this season, and have the sixth seed in the playoffs.

 

The GOJHL Western Conference Playoff picture is:

1. Leamington (33-10-2-3) vs (8) Strathroy (19-28-1-0)
2. London (33-12-1-2) vs (7) St. Thomas (17-24-3-4)
3. Chatham (28-12-4-4) vs Komoka (20-23-2-3)
4. Sarnia (23-18-2-5) vs LaSalle (22-20-2-4)

 

The London/St. Thomas series will get underway on Wednesday evening, with the rest starting on Thursday.

 

Western Mustangs

 

Hockey

Friday evening had Game #2 of the Mustangs men’s hockey team’s OUA West semi final series against the Brock Badgers. Western led the series 1-0 after a 3-2 decision in St. Catharine’s in Game #1. Ray Huether got the scoring started with a breakaway goal in the first period, but Brock would score a powerplay goal off the stick of Ethan Spaxman later in the period to go into the first intermission tied at 1-1. Frankie Pucci would give the Badgers the lead in the second period with another powerplay goal, before Ray Huether scored his second of the night to tie it up again in the third. With just over six minutes remaining in the third period, Skylar Pacheco ripped a point shot off the post and in to give the lead back to Brock, with the Badgers eventually winning 3-2. Sunday night was the third and deciding game of the series. Both games 1 and 2 were both tight-fought, 3-2 finals. Just as they did in the first two games, Western jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.  They would put up three more in each of the following periods to blow out Brock 7-1, sending them to their first conference final since 2016. They will be playing the same opponent as they did three years ago—the Guelph Gryphons. Game #1 of the series will be played on Thursday night at Thompson Arena.

The women’s hockey team hit the road on Saturday afternoon in Game #2 of the McCaw Cup quarterfinals to try and sweep the Waterloo Warriors. The last playoff game between these two teams in this location saw the Warriors skate away with their first ever playoff series win back in 2017. That would not be the case on Saturday though, as Western played a tight defensive game to knock out the Warriors 2-1. Taytum Clairmont got the scoring started on a first period powerplay, but Shailyn Waites would tie it up in the second, then Syndee Baker would score her first goal in a Mustangs’ jersey later in the middle fame. Carmen Lasis would only face 11 shots for the win between the pipes. The Mustangs have now won seven straight OUA playoff games dating back to last year, and will play the Toronto Varsity Blues in the McCaw Cup semi-finals, with Game 1 going from Thompson Arena tomorrow evening.

 

Basketball

Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall was the OUA quarterfinal in men’s basketball with the Mustangs hosting the Brock Badgers. The Badgers were coming off a qualifying round win earlier in the week over Lakehead, while Western had a week-long bye. The Mustangs took both regular season meetings, although both of them came down to the wire, so Saturday was destined to be another close finish. And it couldn’t have been closer of a game. Western controlled the first quarter of the game, shooting 52% from the field to lead 22-14 after the first 10 minutes. The second quarter saw Brock get some more momentum, with forward Cassidy Ryan dominating the rebounding game. It would have been a perfect quarter for Brock until the last couple of minutes, when Mustangs rookie Aaron Tenant sent Alumni Hall into a frenzy with a ferocious put-back slam dunk. Western would lead 42-35 at half. Flash forward to 8 seconds remaining in the fourth, Mustangs lead 88-87. Tyler Brown backs down Julian Walker and hits a Kobe-esque fadeaway as the buzzer went to put the dagger through the hearts of the Mustangs. The Brock Badgers advanced to the OUA final four with an 89-88 victory.

 

Volleyball

On Friday, the Mustangs volleyball teams hosted the Waterloo Warriors at Alumni Hall. The women handed the Warriors their second loss of the season in five sets, while the men also beat Waterloo in five.

Just a couple of hours after that exciting basketball game on Saturday, the Mustangs volleyball teams were playing their final matches of the regular season. Prior to the match, the Mustangs honoured their graduating senior players. Leah Mousseau transferred from Lakehead after last season and spent her senior year with Western. Libeiro Courtney Sestric will graduate as the Mustangs’ all-time leader in digs, and Kelsey Veltman will graduate as potentially the most-decorated woman to ever don the purple & white. Western would close out the regular season with a straight-sets win over the Gryphons, giving them eight straight wins to end the season. Rachel Grove led the Mustangs in digs that game with 13. The women’s volleyball team finished the regular season with eight straight wins, and second in the OUA West conference. They will host the Queen’s Gaels in the OUA quarter finals for the third year in a row on Saturday afternoon.

As for the men, they needed a win against the Gryphons in order to host an OUA playoff game. They would get it with a solid straight set win 25-20, 25-22, 25-18. They too honoured their seniors before the game. Evan Cranshaw will be graduating in his fourth year after starting for the Mustangs in his third year. Evan Hammond was honoured after climbing the ladder through the lineup. In his senior year, he was finally able to crack the starting lineup, and has absolutely dominated the middle position. Matt Hooker, the setter, was recognized as being one of the top student athletes to ever come through Western’s volleyball program. He started in all five years, and may go down as one of the best setters to ever play for the Mustangs. The men’s team will host the Toronto Varsity Blues in the OUA quarter finals at 5pm on Saturday.

 

Swimming

Vancouver BC was home to the U Sports National Swimming Championships this past weekend. While the host UBC Thunderbirds won their third straight national title, the Mustangs did get on the podium three times. Charis Huddle had two of those medals, first with a gold in the 50m freestyle, then a silver in the 100m freestyle. Matthew Loewen got the other medal for the ‘Stangs with a silver in the 50m breaststroke.

 

Wrestling

The Mustangs wrestling teams were also out west over the weekend, as the Calgary Dinos hosted the U Sports National wrestling championship. Western’s men’s team finished in 10th while the women finished ninth. Brayen Ambo reached the podium finishing third in the men’s 82kg class. Julie Steffler reached the 59kg division finals, but fell to Hannah Taylor of the Brock Badgers to give Steffler the silver. The Badgers won both the men’s and women’s national championships for the sixth straight year. Congratulations to the Mustangs wrestling team on another great season!

 

Track & Field

The Western Mustangs track and field teams were competing in the OUA Championship this past weekend hosted in Toronto. The women’s team would take second, while the men’s team finished third, with the Guelph Gryphons swept the weekend winning both provincial championships. The Mustangs would get medals in 20 different events, including four golds. Jack Sheffar was the recipient of two of those gold medals, as the London, Ontario native and fifth year runner won the 1500m and the 3000m races. Kristina Popadich had a pair of silver medals, finishing second in the 1500m and the 3000m races. Emilia Grala captured gold in the high jump with a 1.67 metre leap, and Dan Gleason vaulted onto the podium in pole vault, getting gold with a 4.86m jump. Congratulations to the Mustangs track and field teams for a strong showing at the Provincial Championships!