Photo Courtesy - Nav Mohan - 94.9 Radio Western

 

GOJHL Playoffs

 

(2) London beats (7) St. Thomas 4-1

 The London Nationals ousted the St. Thomas Stars from the GOJHL West playoffs after a 6-2 win in Game #5 of their opening round series. James Turner had a hat-trick for the Nats while Noah Tooke and Cal Davis both had three assists each on the evening.

 

(6) Komoka beats (3) Chatham 4-1

The Komoka Kings have advanced to the next round of the GOJHL West playoffs with win over the third-seeded Chatham Maroons in Round #1. That crucial Game #5 was played on Thursday night in Chatham, and saw Komoka dominate en route to a 6-1 win. The Kings led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play with a goal from Chase Strychaluk, but the Maroons tied it early in the second period to make it 1-1. The Kings then rattled off two quick goals in 1:38 to seize a two-goal lead, and would not look back from there, tallying three powerplay goals on the evening. Dowson Zheng was the big performer in the series-clinching game, racking up a goal and two assists, while goaltender Owen Say let in one goal on 33 shots he faced between the Komoka pipes.

 

(1) Leamington beats (8) Strathroy 4-1

After dropping Game #1 of their series, the Leamington Flyers have strung together four straight wins to eliminate the Strathroy Rockets in five games. Game #5 of their series was played on Thursday, and it was a tightly-contested 2-1 final in overtime. While the score was close, the Flyers managed to direct 55 shots on the net of the Rockets, with Josh Diamond having an answer for 53 of them throughout the course of the nearly 70 minutes of hockey he played in the Rockets’ net. Thomas Michaud would be the hero halfway through the first overtime, scoring his second goal of the playoffs.

 

The LaSalle Vipers will now face the London Nationals in the West semi-finals with London kicking off the series on home ice on Wednesday evening. The Komoka Kings will take on the #1 ranked Leamington Flyers in the other semi-final series, starting its play on Thursday evening in Leamington.

 

Western Mustangs

 

Hockey

The Western Mustangs men’s hockey team’s season is now over after a 3-0 loss to the Carleton Ravens on Friday night in the OUA Bronze Medal Game. The Ravens will now compete as a wild card contender for the OUA in the U Sports National Championship held in Lethbridge, Alberta. The reason the Ravens were in the bronze medal game was because of a two-game sweep to the Queen’s Gaels in the East final, where in Game #2 they recorded 51 shots on goal but still lost 4-1. The inverse result happened in the bronze medal game for Carleton, as they gave up 42 shots on goal against the Mustangs, but Francois Brassard stopped them all for a 3-0 shutout. The Ravens scored goals in the first and second period, both at the 11-minute mark, and both off of defensive turnovers from Western. Dalen Hedges finished with a goal and an assist for Carleton. The Mustangs will now graduate Trent Ouellette, Ray Huether, Spenser Cobbold, Trevor Warnaar and their captain, Jonathan Laser. The main core of the Mustangs though, will be around for another couple of years, including their all-star goaltender Luke Peressini. The Mustangs had three separate chances to punch their ticket to Nationals but went 0-3 in those games. The season ends in disappointment, but it is still the farthest the purple and white have gone since 2016.

 

Volleyball

The Western Mustangs women’s volleyball team came just short of winning their fourth straight OUA medal this past weekend in the OUA Final Four. Their semi-final match was against the fearsome Ryerson Rams, who they beat in the regular season. The Rams would have the edge in the post-season though, taking down the Mustangs in four sets. In the Bronze Medal game, Western had to go up against the host Waterloo Warriors, who led the West division during the regular season. It was a five-set thriller to decide third place, with the Warriors stringing together a 9-2 run in the fifth set to take the bronze, making the Mustangs settle for fourth place in the conference.

 

Track & Field

The U Sports track & field championships were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba this past weekend, and saw the Mustangs men’s team finish in fifth place, while the women’s team reached the podium, finishing third in the country. The Guelph Gryphons took the gold in both championships for a second straight year. The Mustangs who were expected to do well certainly did in the national championship, with Sarah Vilani winning silver in shot put with a throw of 15.45 metres. Kristina Popadich won silver in the women’s 3000m relay, as she did in OUAs, while fifth-year Mustangs star, Jack Sheffar, won gold in the men’s 3000m with a time of 8:12.36--three seconds faster than his next closest competitor.