McGregor leads Canada into semifinals
Forest's Tyler McGregor has captained Team Canada to a semifinal berth at the world para hockey championship in Calgary.
Canada (3-0) will play Friday against China (2-1) for a berth in Sunday's gold-medal game.
McGregor scored Canada's first two goals in a 5-1 win over Czechia to wrap up the preliminary round Tuesday.
“That was a tough game,” McGregor said in a statement. “(Czechia) plays a physical brand of hockey, makes us earn our ice. Going into a semifinal, it is nice to go out and earn a win. We were able to capitalize on our opportunities, played well defensively, killed a lot of penalties and I am proud of our effort . . .
"We are getting contributions from everyone, protecting the middle of the ice, playing physical and managing the blue-lines well, which is a major key to our success.”
McGregor leads Canada with nine goals and ranks third in scoring with 14 points.
FISCHER WINS STING PLAYER OF YEAR AWARD
Lukas Fischer was named the player of the year at the Sarnia Sting's annual awards banquet.
The 17-year-old defenceman had six goals and 28 assists in 68 games. He's ranked 45th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting for this year's draft.
Defenceman Hughston Hurt won the rookie of the year award.
Goalie Nick Surzycia received the scholastic player of the year award and the 3 Stars Cup.
Leading scorer Marko Sikic won the Coaches Award. Captain Cooper Way won the Sting Values Award.
Defenceman Owen MacDonald was chosen humanitarian of the year.
NIENHUIS TURNS PRO WITH AUSTRIAN TEAM
Sarnia's Nash Nienhuis has signed a three-year contract with the Salzburg Red Bulls after captaining the Michigan State Spartans to the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships this season.
The Spartans also advanced to a regional final in the NCAA tournament.
The Red Bulls have won three straight International Central European Hockey League championships.
“Mostly it's the winning culture that made me choose Red Bulls,” Nienhuis, 24, said in a statement. “I know how hard it is to win. The fact that the Red Bulls were able to win the championship several times in a row shows the character, good work ethic and passion of everyone in the organization.”
Nienhuis had nine goals and 15 assists in 38 games as a senior.
“He comes to us from one of the outstanding programs in American college hockey today,” Red Bulls head coach Oliver David said in a statement. “. . . He is an outstanding skater with good stick-handling, a captain and a leader on and off the ice.”
Nienhuis's father, Kraig, also played professionally in Austria after spending parts of three seasons with the Boston Bruins.
VILMANIS WINS OHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ex-Sting forward Sandis Vilmanis is the Ontario Hockey League player of the week after collecting four goals and five assists in four games for the North Bay Battalion in the Eastern Conference final.
The Battalion's season ended with a 6-1 loss to the Oshawa Generals in Game 7 Monday.
Vilmanis is the OHL playoff scoring leader with 27 points in 16 games.