GUELPH, Ont. - The Western Mustangs men's hockey team kicked off their regular season on a positive note beating the Guelph Gryphons 3-2 on Thursday, Oct. 7.
Anthony Grieco (Brampton, Ont.) played excellent in net making 26 saves to get the win for the Mustangs. Keaton Turkiewicz (Brantford, Ont.), Steve Reese (Dorchester, Ont.) and Kevin Baker (Georgetown, Ont.) netted the goals for Western. Aaron Snow (Windsor, Ont.) added two assists.
SSN Highlights (http://blip.tv/file/4221244)
Western will play one more exhibition game against Michigan State on Oct. 8 before continuing their OUA play on Oct. 15 against UOIT in Oshawa, Ont. The Mustangs will be back in the friendly confines of Thompson arena on Oct. 16 against the York Lions at 7:30 p.m.
Head coach Clarke Singer was pleased overall with his team's performance but noted that they have a long way to go being just the first game of the regular season.
"We played very well overall to come on the road and win against one of the top teams in the OUA," Singer said. "I was pleased with our effort but it's a long season and we've got a lot to work on."
Coach Singer also applauded Yashar Farmanara (West Vancouver) for sacrificing his body late in the third period diving to block a shot.
"Yashar really showed his character on that play, using his body to possibly save the game for us," Singer stated.
The scoring began midway through the first period of the game. Directly after killing off a Guelph powerplay the Mustangs were given the one-man advantage after a high sticking call on the Gryphons. Western scored the first goal of the game as Snow worked the puck down behind the net to Jason Furlong, who made a great pass out in front to Turkiewicz who buried it in the net. This made it 1-0 Western 9:13 into the first period. The rest of the period was fairly even in scoring chances as Guelph had ten shots in the period with Western getting nine on net.
Quickly into the second period, Gryphon Alex Magera collected the puck behind the net and attempted to toss it in front of the net. It took a Guelph bounce as the puck bounced off Grieco's pads and back into the net. Just 28 seconds into the second period the Gryphons had evened the score at 1-1.
The majority of the second period was back and forth with each team killing off a number of penalties. Guelph was able to score their second goal of the period as Greico saved a Zach Lillie shot but the rebound went right to Mike McFarlane who found himself with a wide open net. This made it 2-1 Gryphons 15:16 into the second period. The period would end with the Gryphons ahead on the scoreboard by one but Western leading 23-18 in shots.
Western would even the game early in the third period as Snow centred the puck in front of the net and Reese blasted a slap shot past the goalie. The game was even at 2-2 4:09 into the third period.
Western would swing momentum in their favour after a bad turnover by Guelph in their own end went right to Kevin Baker. He made the Gryphons pay firing the game winner into the top corner of the net to give Western a 3-2 lead 9:17 into the third.
Captain Kyle Lamb (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) was ejected 11 minutes into the third period for checking from behind and given a game misconduct. The Gryphons could not use the man advantage getting a penalty of their own just 14 seconds later. The Gryphons would get another chance on the power play late in the third on a tripping call on Josh McQuade.
The Gryphons pressured at the end of the game pulling their goalie and firing a number of shots on goal but Grieco was up to the task. Farmanara would make a game-saving block on a slap shot from the point that would force him to leave the game with just under 30 seconds remaining.
