Panthers playoff run ends
Lakeshore’s Ty Tullio will play for the OHL Cup title on Monday while the Sun County Panthers’ surprise run in the tournament came to an end on Saturday in the quarter-finals. Unranked all season in the OHL minor midget rankings, the Panthers fell 6-1 to the No. 6-ranked Toronto Jr. Canadiens.
“You can factor from what we’re drawing (players) from and what we’re competing against, it’s a pretty good accomplishment for Sun County,” Panthers head coach Mark Cadotte said.
Sun County had to play a wildcard game just to get into the tournament’s main draw and made it to the quarter-finals after beating Cambridge, which swept the Panthers in league playoffs, and then knocking off No. 7-ranked Guelph to finish second in the team’s pool. In fact, of the four teams to qualify from the Minor Hockey ALLIANCE of Ontario, only the Panthers moved into the playoffs. “We came together and played like we had nothing to lose and put in a heck of an effort,” Cadotte said. The run ended against the Canadiens, who jumped to an early 2-0 lead. Ryan Gagnier pulled the Panthers to within a goal, but Toronto closed with the game’s final four goals.
Sun County goalie Nicholas Chenard made 44 saves while John Ulicny, who led the club in tournament scoring with four goals and six points in six games, was named the team’s player of the game. Tullio scored the opening goal to help the Vaughan Kings get to the final with a 3-1 semifinal win over the York- Simcoe Express. Vaughan will face the Jr. Canadiens in Monday’s final. Tullio is tied for fourth in tournament goals with five and also tied for fourth in tournament points with nine.
MAGGIO EARNS AWARD
The Ontario Hockey League has named Sun County Panthers forward Matthew Maggio the Minor Hockey ALLIANCE of Ontario player of the year.
The OHL recognizes a player in all seven associations throughout the province. Maggio finished tied for second in ALLIANCE scoring with 44 points in 33 games on the wing with 20 goals and 24 assists. Previous winners of the ALLIANCE award includes NHLers Bo Horvat, Travis Konecny and Jared McCann along with Ryan Suzuki, who was the first overall pick in last year’s OHL Draft, along with Windsor’s Owen Lalonde and Anthony Salinitri.
LANCER MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The University of Windsor Lancers lost in the consolation semifinal of the U SPORTS men’s volleyball championship on Saturday in Hamilton.
Windsor lost its quarter-final match on Friday to No. 1-ranked Trinity Western University. That put the Lancers in the consolation round and the club fell 3-0 to the fourth-seeded Montreal Carabins by scores of 25-19, 25-10 and 25-16. John Moate led the Lancers with seven kills and was named player of the game while teammate Brad Gyemi finished with six kills, eight digs and two service aces. The Lancers were at the national championship for the first time in school history after capturing the team’s first medal at the OUA championship.
EXPRESS HAS EDGE
In a potential first-round playoff preview, the Windsor Express scored a 108-95 win over the St. John’s Edge on Saturday in NBL of Canada action at the WFCU Centre.
St. John’s (22-14) sits in second place in the Central Division and would face the third-place Express (19-16) if the standings do not change.
Windsor’s Shaquille Keith led all scorers with 29 points and all five Windsor starters finished in double figures. Braylon Rayson and Maurice Jones had 17 points each while Logan Stutz added 13 points and Damontre Harris finished with 10 points. Chad Frazier came off the bench to score 11 points for the Express, who have five games left in the regular season.
BULLS’ RUN ENDS
Windsor’s Dominic Johnson and the University of Buffalo Bulls could not pull off another upset. After taking out No. 4-seeded Arizona in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday, the No. 13-seeded Bulls fell in Saturday’s round of 32 by a 95-75 count to No. 4-seeded Kentucky in Boise, ID.
WILLSON STILL SEARCHING
LaSalle’s Luke Willson made a reported visit with the Detroit Lions on Saturday, but left without inking a deal. The 28-year-old Willson, who is a free agent and played his first five NFL seasons as tight end for the Seattle Seahawks, visited the Carolina Panthers on Thursday and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The six-foot-five, 254-pound Willson has career totals of 89 catches for 1,129 yards and 11 touchdowns in 72 career games with 37 starts.