O’Fallon hockey club, Carriel boys basketball team honored by city

Mayor Gary L. Graham and the O’Fallon City Council honored the O’Fallon Panthers Ice Hockey Club and the Amelia Carriel Junior High boys basketball team during the council’s meeting April 3.

The week of March 6, 2017 was declared as O’Fallon Panthers Ice Hockey Club Week in O’Fallon, and April 3, 2017 was declared as Amelia Carriel Junior High Boys Basketball Team Day in O’Fallon.

The O’Fallon Panthers Ice Hockey Club Varsity Team completed a magnificent season with a record of 15-6, and an amazing 6-1 record in the playoffs and won the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association 2A championship.

After an intense back-and-forth series against a great Freeburg/Waterloo team, the Panthers bested the Bulldogs two games to one in the championship series, taking the final game 5-4. It was O’Fallon’s first championship since the 1998-1999 season.

O’Fallon swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, first dispatching Bethalto, then Columbia. In both best-of-three series, O’Fallon never lost.

“Congratulations to the O’Fallon Panthers Ice Hockey Club varsity team, the MVCHA 2A league champions, who had an exemplary season of hockey, finishing with a championship title,” said Mayor Graham.

The 2017 O’Fallon Panthers Ice Hockey Club varsity team consisted of Hayden Ourada, Cooper Barnhill, Christopher Duncan, Carson Bair, Ryan Boeck, Logan Drolet, Garrett Hagarty, Kyle Jerrell, Parker Johnson, Joey Kurrasch, Michael Mangino, Travis Manthe, Ethan Ourada, Kristin Smith, Graham Sudduth, Parker Townsend, Aaron Turner, Jack Wallace, Zack Winkler, Cody Wyatt, Patrick Roy, Karl Goerke, Mario Lucas, Chris Mauk, Alex Pennebaker, and Brandon Pryor.

The 2017 Carriel Junior High boys basketball team finished the season with an overall season record of 27-0 and finished 13-0 in Tri-County Conference play.

The Cougars survived a scare to squeeze past their cross-town rivals, the Fulton Panthers, 44-41 in the semi-finals of the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association Class L state basketball tournament. Carriel won state by defeating West Junior High from Belleville, 57-49.

“Congratulations to these state champions,” said Mayor Graham. “This team will go down in history as one of the best basketball teams ever at Carriel.”

Team members included Joe Novy, Nick Novy, Trent Zimmerman, Jaden Howliet, Dakari Sayles, Donavan Whitfield, Shaun Riley, Graydon Cornell, Kaden Joggerst, Clay Adams, Chris Chipman, Kendall Walter, Keelen Allen, Judah Ezinwa, Roderick Williams and Caleb Burton.

The team was coached by Chris Hursey.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 2:18 PM with the headline "O’Fallon hockey club, Carriel boys basketball team honored by city."