LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs exploded in the third period for three goals to take game one of the OUA West Final 4-1 over the Guelph Gryphons at Thompson Arena.
Josh McQuade and Keaton Turkiewicz both scored two goals for the Mustangs. Turkiewicz and Kevin Baker had two assists with McQuade, Jason Swit and Scott Aarssen each collecting one apiece.
Anthony Greico was solid in net for the Mustangs making 31 saves for the victory.
Western scored first as the Mustangs won the face-off after Guelph's Nathan Martine was called for cross checking and McQuade made a move in the slot and shot into the top right corner past the Gryphon's Loverock. This put the Mustangs in front 1-0 with 7:36 left in the first period.
The Gryphons best chance in the period came on a one-on-one breakaway that Greico was able to kick away to keep the Gryphons off the scoreboard with 3:15 left.
Guelph's Peroff's blasted a point shot off the face-off that was tipped by Andrew Merrett and found its way past Greico with 16:30 left in the second period. The goal came just six seconds into a Scott Aarssen penalty to even the score at one goal apiece, which it would remain for the rest of the period despite a number of chances by both teams.
The Mustangs turned up the tempo in the third period and took advantage as Jason Swit found Turkiewicz who scored the go ahead goal with 16:08 left in the period to make it 2-1 Mustangs.
Turkiewicz then took advantage a few minutes later on the power play as he faked a shot from the point and danced his way into the slot to blast a shot into the top left corner. This gave Western a 3-1 lead with 11:28 left in the third.
Western iced the game after Turkiewicz blocked a Guelph shot, and Baker and McQuade rushed the other way on a 2-1 breakaway. Baker fired at Loverock, and the rebound went right off his pad to a wide open McQuade to make it 4-1 Western with 6:42 left in the game.
Guelph and Western both displayed some aggression near the end of the game as the Gryphons frustrations increased. Guelph's Kris Belan and Western's Yashar Farmanara were both sent off with just under two minutes remaining for their part in a scrum after the whistle.
Game two of the best-of-three series will go on Saturday night in Guelph at 7:30 p.m.
