Badgers set win record with men’s hockey victory
Brock sweeps team titles at Ontario wrestling championships
First place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West Division is on the line when Brock hosts Ryerson in men’s hockey Friday in St. Catharines.
Brock comes into the 7:15 p.m. faceoff at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment leading the season series two wins to one. After dropping a 4-3 decision in the opening game of head-tohead play, the Badgers rebounded with 4-1 and 5-0 victories.
Brock, 18-8, is hoping to improve on its record for regular-season victories with two games remaining in league play.
In their last game, the Badgers tripled York 3-1 on the road for their 18th win of the season breaking the record of 17 which was set in 2007-08.
Brody Silk, Tyler Rollo, Justin Brack scored for the Badgers, and Logan Thompson made 33 saves in the win.
Shots on net were 34-31 in favour of the host Lions.
“This is a special group of guys,” Brock head coach Marty Williamson said. “We were a little quiet early, but the boys hung in there after a late night getting home from Windsor.”
Brock travelled to Toronto after suffering a 4-3 setback in overtime to the Lancers the night before in Windsor.
Frank Pucci, Adam Berg, Ethan Spaxman, on the power play; scored for the Badgers who overcame a 3-0 deficit to force overtime.
Brock outshot Windsor 32-30 in the loss. League play for the Badgers wraps up Saturday when they host York in a 7:15 p.m. start.
Brock is 3-0 versus the Lions this season.
Women’s hockey
Brock travels to North Bay on Saturday hoping to earn a split in the season series versus Nipissing in women’s hockey.
Nipissing opened the home-and-home with a 2-1 victory last weekend in St. Catharines.
Amanda Ieradi, on the power play; found the back of the net for the Badgers who were outshot 24-17 by the Lakers and finished 1-for-8 on the power play.
Despite the loss head coach Margot Page was pleased with her team’s effort overall.
“We played solid second and third periods,” she said. “Lots of shot attempts off our forecheck and sustained pressure, but too many shots were blocked.
“A few miscues in the first and took too long to get our feet going.”
Brock was coming off a 4-2 victory over Toronto the night before, also at home.
Annie Berg, with two, Kim Brown and Rebekah Feld — on the power play— scored for the Badgers.
Brock was outshot 30-19 by the Varsity Blues and finished the game 1-for-6 on the power play.
Sunday afternoon finds the Badgers in Sudbury completing a home-and-home against Laurentian.
Brock took the opener 3-2 in a shootout
Nov. 9 in St. Catharines.
Men’s basketball
Brock is continuing to climb the standings in men’s basketball and Johneil Simpson, one of the Badgers’ go-to guys on offence, is continuing to climb the career scoring list.
His game-high 23 points in a 101-49 victory at home over Windsor moved him past Brad Rootes and into third place in all-time scoring at the St. Catharines university.
Simpson, with 2,791 points, is 29 points away from catching Dani Elgadi.
Kascius Small Martin, Cassidy Ryan scored 14 points each as Brock won its fourth in a row.
The Badgers, whose Wednesday night home game against Waterloo, 3-17, was postponed due to inclement weather, improved to 14-6 with four games remaining in league play.
“Our staff feels good about where our team is at this point in the year,” head coach Madhav Trivedi said. “I think we’re slowly making strides to improve and we’re finding different ways to challenge our group, which is important as we get closer to the playoffs.
“Everyone is playing minutes for us, and they’re finding a way to contribute.”
A makeup date for the Waterloo-Brock has yet to be set.
Next scheduled action for the Badgers is 8 p.m. Saturday at home versus Western.
Women’s basketball
Courtney McPherson recorded a double-double — 14 points, 14 rebounds — as Brock lost 71-66 in overtime to Windsor in women’s basketball.
Meagan Charbonneau, with 14; Melissa Tatti, 12; Kristin Gallant, 11; also scored in double digits for the Badgers.
Brock lost its second in a row to fall to 9-11.
Leading scorers for the Badgers in a 74-57 loss to McMaster in Hamilton were Baelie Campbell, 23 points; Tatti, 15.
Wrestling
Brock remains the gold standard for university wrestling in Ontario.
The Badgers swept the team titles at the 2019 OUA Championships in Guelph. Brock won its fourth straight title on the men’s side and fifth straight on the women’s side.
A total of 19 gold medals were awarded, with the Badgers winning 13 of them.
“There are some good competitors in this group, and the kids fought hard today,” said Brock head coach Marty Calder, who was named OUA Coach of the Year on both the men’s and women’s sides. “We lost a total of seven starters from a year ago between our men’s and women’s teams, so it was great to see some of the rookies step up and perform well.
“Garette (Saunders), Roch (Provost) and Calvin (Daum) are three new faces on our men’s side, and all came up big.”
Brock took eight gold medals in the 11 weight classes, and five in eight weight class on the women’s side.
Brock’s Hannah Taylor, who earned the title of OUA champion for a third consecutive season, defeated Western’s Julie Steffler in a competitive final in the women’s 59-kilogram division.
The university wrestling season wraps up with the Canadian championships Feb. 22-23 at the University of Calgary.
Volleyball
Brock swept visiting Lakehead — 25-23, 25-13, 25-22 — extending its win streak in women’s volleyball to five games.
Four games remain in the regular season and the 10-5 Badgers, second to 14-0 Waterloo in the West Division, are setting their sights on the playoffs.
“We still have some work to do to make the playoffs, because it’s so tight in the west standings,” head coach Steve Delaney said. “We were able to get everyone playing time today as well, which is strong for our development.”
Brock’s Julia Balatbat was named the game’s top player. The third-year libero scored two service aces and came up with three digs.
“She was fantastic on defence and from the service line,” the coach said. “She made some big digs for us.”
Laura Condotta, six kills, two service aces, stuff block; Grace Edwards, five kills, three service aces; Tori Carroll, six kills, service ace; topped the Badgers in scoring.
Darby Taylor, 17 kills, two service aces, stuff block; Condotta, 15 skills, service ace, stuff block; were standouts for Brock in a five-set victory over Guelph on the road.
Set scores were 13-25, 25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 15-7.
Brock hosts York on Saturday and Nipissing on Sunday. Both games get underway at 1 p.m., with the men taking the court at Bob Davis Gymnasium two hours later.
The Badgers lost in five sets to Guelph in men’s volleyball to fall to 3-10. Set scores as Brock lost its fourth in a row were 25-22, 25-27, 25-14, 21-25, 15-9.