Panthers claim AAA hockey title
The host Sun County Panthers emerged as the champion at the All- Ontario Pee Wee AAA Hockey Championship at the Essex Centre Sports Complex.
Sun County, which was the ALLIANCE champion, captured the title with a 2-0 win over Ottawa in the final.
“I think it’s big for every small town AAA or AA program,” Panthers head coach Danny Anger said.
“We’re the first-ever host team to win the (Pee Wee) All- Ontario and just the second ALLIANCE team to win it.”
After finishing third in pool play, Sun County beat Oakville 8-6 in the semis to reach the final while Ottawa upset Mississauga. “I think the biggest shock was beating Oakville,” Anger said. “Last year, we had 30 kids at tryouts and five goals and you go up against a team like Oakville that had 400 kids at tryouts and that’s pretty amazing.”
In the final against Ottawa, Declan Waddick gave the Panthers an early lead and the club rode the shutout goaltending of Jaxon Drysdale before Johnny Lopez sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
The Erie North Shore Storm captured the OHF Pee Wee A championship on Sunday in Kingsville. The Storm beat the Quinte West Hawks 1-0 in double overtime in the final to capture the championship.
Nicholas Shaften scored the lone goal of the game at 4:16 of the second overtime with Ariana Quenneville earning the shutout. The club went 3-2 in pool play to finish second overall and beat the Hearst Lumber Kings 3-1 in the semifinals to reach the final.
The Windsor Valiants program has captured the gold medal in three different Ontario Basketball Association girls’ age categories at Provincial Cup competition. The U10 novice girls’ team won the title in London, the U13 bantam team won the championship in Newmarket while the U14 major bantam squad captured the title in Brampton. All three teams went 4-0 in pool play.
Former Windsor Clippers attackman Bryan Larocque set a new Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association scoring record. Larocque, who competes for Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Mich., had seven goals in a 13-6 win over Pittsburgh on Friday. That pushed his career total to 341 points, which put him past Brigham Young ’s Ted Ferrin, who previously held the record with 337 points set in 2012.
STEEN WINS BRONZE
Tecumseh’s Jordan Steen earned a bronze medal in the men’s 97kg freestyle wrestling competition at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Steen beat New Zealand’s Samuel Belkin by technical superiority after building a 10-0 lead in the bronze-medal match.
Steen started the competition with another technical superiority win by a 10-0 count over England’s Leon Rattigan and an 11-0 technical superiority win over Pakistan’s Umair Ahmad. A 12-2 loss to South Africa’s Martin Erasmus, who went on to win the gold medal, sent Steen to the bronzemedal match with Belkin.
BEARDY NAMED COACH
Former University of Windsor Lancers offensive tackle Randy Beardy is the new head coach of the Essex Junior Ravens football squad.
Beardy, who was a former CFL draft pick of the Ottawa Redblacks, added Alex Bornais as his offensive co-ordinator/receivers coach, Jeremy Rogers as defensive co-ordinator, Travis Durocher as offensive line coach, Al Fazio as running backs coach, Brandon Dobson as defensive line coach, and Kevin Limbombe as defensive backs coach.