From top ’Dog to Lion tamer
Head coach Marty Williamson and his players channelled their inner lion tamer when the Brock Badgers opened the third round of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s hockey playoffs in Toronto Wednesday night.
Game 2 in the best-of-three West Division final against the second-seeded York Lions is 7:15 p.m. Friday at SeymourHannah Sports and Entertainment Centre in St. Catharines.
Fifth-ranked Brock, which is seeking its third division title, swept top seed Guelph to advance to the semifinals.
“We are extremely proud of our players to have reached the OUA west finals,” said Williamson, who is in his first season coaching the Badgers after several years behind the Niagara IceDogs bench.
Matt MacLeod, with three in a row, Connor Brown and Mitch Nardi, 7:12 into overtime, scored for the Badgers in a 5-4 win at home to clinch the series and compete the upset of Guelph.
Backstopping the win was Clint Windsor with a 46-save performance. Windsor become the first Badgers goaltender to record 1,000 saves in a single season.
Cosimo Fontana, with two, and Chris Maniccia scored goals in regulation.
Ayden MacDonald netted the game winner 5:52 into overtime in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory on the road in the series opener.
If a third game is needed in the series versus York, it would be played 7 p.m. Saturday in Toronto.
The Lions and Badgers split their regular-season series with York winning the first game 4-3 in a shootout in October and Brock taking the second game 4-2 in January.
Tickets for Friday night’s game at Seymour-Hannah are available at the Walker Sports Complex Welcome Desk or by calling 905-688-5550 x4060. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 students and seniors. Visit gobadgers.ca for more information.
Fifth sweep in a row
Brock wrestlers combined to win 10 gold medals on the way to capturing the fifth consecutive Canadian men’s and women’s championships.
“I love winning, and so does my team,” said head coach Marty Calder, whose wrestlers won 18 medals in all at the 2018 USPORTS championships in Sault Ste. Marie.
“We put a lot of work in over the season. We knew were going to be tested this weekend, but we had this goal in our minds to win both titles and I think our team was unbelievable.
“We performed well and I am very happy with the results.”
Brock men’s team returned home from Algoma University with their 18th national championship in school history. The title was seventh straight and eighth overall for the women’s team.
Badgers lose quarter-final
Brock’s dream of ending 2017-18 with a women’s university hockey championship were dashed in a 3-2 loss to Guelph. Annie Berg and Rachel Rochat found the back for the net for the Badgers and Jensen Murphy made 29 saves as Brock lost its second playoff game in a row.
Kat Whiteye scored for the Badgers in a 2-1 loss in the opening game of the best-of-three quarterfinal.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Wrestlers Jessica Brouilette and Ligrit Sadiku and hockey player Matt MacLeod are Brock University’s top athletes after a winning week on the mat as well as on the ice.
Brouliette went undefeated in the 63-kilogram division helping the women’s wrestling team win its seventh straight national title and eighth overall.
Brock also pinned down the men’s title, the 18th in school history, thanks in part to Sadiku’s gold medal in the 61-kilogram division.
The first natural hat trick of MacLeod’s career helped the men’s hockey team defeat Guelph 5-4 in overtime completing a sweep in a best-of-three Ontario University Athletics semifinal.
V-Ball team ends season
Brock ended the women’s university women’s volleyball season with a 6-13 record following back-toback road losses to Lakehead.
The Thunder Bay-based Thunderwolves swept the first game — 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 — and wrapped up the weekend winning in four sets — 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 25-16.
Jennifer Todd, with eight kills, and Tori Carroll, five, were standouts for Brock in the first game. In the second, Jennifer Todd and Laura Condotta had nine and eight kills, respectively.
Making a splash
Two swimmers represented Brock at the USPORTS National Championships in Toronto on the weekend.
Gokhan Bozyigit competed in three events: 16th, men’s 400-metre freestyle, 4:00.47; 24th, 200 fly, 2:04.71; 25th, 1,500 freestyle, 15:58.22.
Maggie Smith, competing at nationals for the first time, swam in four events: 30th, 50 backstroke, 30.43; 42nd, 50 fly, 29.10; 42nd, 100 freestyle; 43rd, 100 fly, 1:06.29.