Luke Peressini, Hockey, Western
With their backs against the wall in their opening round series against the Toronto Varsity Blues, Luke Peressini stepped up in a big way for the Western Mustangs. Backstopping them to a spot in Round 2.
Burlington, Ont. – Luke Peressini has been named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Male Athlete of the Week for the period ending February 17, 2020.
Male Athlete of the Week – Luke Peressini, Western Mustangs, Hockey
With their backs against the wall in their opening round series against the Toronto Varsity Blues, Luke Peressini stepped up in a big way for the Western Mustangs. Backstopping them to a spot in Round 2.
When the puck drops on the playoffs, it truly is a whole new season, which the Mustangs proved once again when taking on the West Division’s top seed. After dropping Game 1 to the Blues in Toronto, Western bounced back in a big way to not only force a deciding game, but to claim the series win in upset fashion. Given the task at hand, going up against the second-highest scoring team in the regular season, the fourth-year goaltender needed to be nearly unbeatable to claim back-to-back wins in elimination games, but lucky for the London squad, he was.
Peressini earned the victory in Game 2 by turning away 42 of 43 shots faced. He mirrored the feat in the Game 3, once again allowing just one puck to get by him en route to the 32-save victory on the road. Despite picking up the Game 1 loss, the Nobleton, Ont. native finished the first round with a second-ranked .943 save percentage and fourth-best 2.04 goals-against average, all while make 99 saves in three games for his No. 8 Western team.