Lancer look-alikes of the week?? OUA Athlete of the Week Mac McDonnell of the Men's Hockey team and Greg "Cheese" Simone of the Men's Volleyball team, both rocking their ginger genes proud with beards to boot. We need an in-person side-by-side comparison!
(the Lancer Men's Hockey team with their OUA banner and Queen's Cup trophy)
Going into the playoffs ranked 4th in the OUA West division, the Lancer men stunned the rest of Ontario with their commendable performances. In the semi-final series against Western, Windsor came back from a one-game disadvantage to best the Mustangs in the best-of-three showdown.
The Lancers' championship opponent, the McGill Redmen, have won four of the last six OUA banners and the 2012 CIS title, and were not to be trifled with. Since McGill was playing under OUA regulations, an Ontario team must host the championship game, giving Windsor the home-ice advantage at South Windsor Arena last Saturday.
The game started off great for the Lancers, with Evan Stibbard scoring a mere 17 seconds into the first period. Although the Redmen outshot the Lancers 16-13 in the first, goalie Parker Van Buskirk saved all 16 shots to keep the score 1-0 heading in to the second period.
McGill didn't back down with 20 shots in the second, but Windsor pumped in 2 goals off of 11 shots by Mac McDonnel and Kenny Bradford to make the score 3-0 for the Lancers. A fully-packed arena proved to motivate the hometown heroes as they headed confidently into the third period.
The Redmen were not done with the Lancers yet, as they tapped in two goals of their own by Vincent Barnard and David Rose to give McGill fans hope at 3-2 with 3 minutes left. The goals were sparked by back-to-back penalties by Windsor, which according to Windsor Sports Information Officer Adam Ali, "seemed to rejuvenate the OUA East division-winners". The rowdy South Windsor crowd wouldn't have any of it and cheered the boys through the rest of the period to finish with a final score of 3-2 for the Windsor Lancers and the OUA title.
(Lancer forward Mac McDonnell)
For his efforts, Parker Van Buskirk was awarded the player of the game, while teammate Mac McDonnell was chosen as Windsor and OUA athlete of the week (we will have to see when the CIS release is made). The young first-year forward and OUA All-Rookie selection not only scored the second goal for the Lancers, but played a pivotal role in the team's overall offence strategy.
View the Lancer Men's Hockey Page HERE.
View the CIS University Cup Championship Page HERE.
To watch the Lancers in action in Saskatoon click HERE.
