{"id":20154,"date":"2018-03-21T15:41:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T19:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20154"},"modified":"2018-03-21T15:41:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T19:41:21","slug":"express-bounced-in-ohl-cup-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/express-bounced-in-ohl-cup-semifinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Express bounced in OHL Cup semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bid for a second OHL Cup title fell short for the York-Simcoe Express, bowing out to the Vaughan Kings in the tournament\u2019s semifinals on Saturday.
\nThe 2016 champs entered the competition among the favourites after winning the OMHA title in early March, earning a 4 \u2013 1 win over the Mississauga Reps in their opening matchup despite goaltender Alex Imperio forced to contend with 45 shots.
\nThey became the first team in the twenty-team tournament to reach 2 \u2013 0 with a 4 \u2013 2 win over the Mississauga Rebels on Wednesday at Toronto\u2019s Scotiabank Pond, thanks to a three-goal output in the second period from Cameron Butler, Ty Collins, and Jack Bar.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re playing with a lot of speed,\u201d said Express blueliner Bar who had a goal and an assist. \u201cThe ice here is really good and I think we\u2019ve had pretty complete team efforts last night and here this morning.\u201d
\nThe Express stayed perfect in game three thanks to a pair of late goals against TPH Hockey of London, with Butler tying it at three with just over two minutes remaining, before Evan Vierling put away the game winning goal less than a minute later.
\n\u201cI knew I needed to step up there,\u201d said Vierling, who earned MVP honours for the game. \u201cIt was a bit of a funny game and they challenged us. We had some big saves from (Alexander) Imperio to keep us in it until we got things together.\u201d
\nAfter a 6 \u2013 2 win over the Mississauga Senators capped a perfect round robin for the Express, it was Vierling who once again provided the winner in Saturday morning\u2019s quarterfinal, sending the Express into the final four with a 2 \u2013 1 overtime goal.
\nWith just under two mintues remaining in the overtime period, Vierling capitalized on a clear path to the net from just over the Oakville Ranger blue line.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s exhilarating, that\u2019s all I can really say,\u201d said Vierling after being mobbed by teammates. \u201cEverything is so tight in that situation and I just wanted to get the puck to the net. Fortunately it found a way in.\u201d
\nYork-Simcoe\u2019s perfect record was snapped, however, in a 3 \u2013 1 loss to the Kings in the afternoon\u2019s semifinal.
\nImperio made 26 stops, while Butler provided the lone York-Simcoe goal.
\nAurora native Vierling finished second in tournament scoring with ten points over six games, and was named one of the three forwards on the tournament\u2019s All-Star team.
\nVaughan earned the silver after falling 5 \u2013 1 to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens in Monday\u2019s final, broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bid for a second OHL Cup title fell short for the York-Simcoe Express, bowing out to the Vaughan Kings in the tournament\u2019s semifinals on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5f4","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 13:54:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}