Box Score LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs needed overtime Saturday night to defeat the Brock Badgers picking up a 5-4 win and extending their winning streak to seven games. After giving up a 3-0 lead, the Mustangs battled back and eventually won the game off of the stick of Matt Clarke midway through the extra frame. The Mustangs improve to 8-3-0 on the season while Brock drops to 4-6-1.

The first period saw the speed of both teams being showcased, and solid goaltending on both ends of the rink kept the game scoreless early.

Western’s Zach Harnden tipped home a Matt Clarke point shot and got the ball rolling for the Mustangs. The goal came on the power play at 7:27 while Brock was down two men.

Mustangs Kyle DeCoste gave his team a two-goal cushion with two minutes left in the first period. DeCoste came from behind the net after taking a pass from teammate Julian Cimadamore and made no mistake, beating Brock’s Kody Blois with a backhand.

The Mustangs held a 14-8 shot advantage over the first frame.

Scoring chances came early in the second period for the Badgers however Josh Unice robbed Brock’s captain Dan Dooley two minutes into the second with a magnificent toe save. Seconds later, Mustangs defenceman Matt Paltridge came down the ice and beat Blois glove-side, forcing backup Dalton McGrath to take over between the pipes and giving Western a 3-0 lead.

A Mustangs defensive zone collapse lead to Brock’s first goal of the gam as Matt Abercrombie beat Unice at 5:40 to make the game 3-1. Minutes later at 7:34, another defensive collapse lead to Abercrombie’s second goal of the game and Brock pulled to within one.

Later in the frame the Badgers kept the pressure on the Mustangs even while shorthanded, as Josh Schram and Thomas Stajan both had breakaways, but Unice turned aside both chances preserving the Western lead.

With just 20 seconds left in the second, DeCoste was robbed by McGrath to keep the game 3-2 in favour of the Mustangs. Brock outshot the Mustangs 16-12 over the period.
 
Brock’s continued their strong play from the second period and Eric Bonawitz tied the game at 4:54 of the third with a point shot that beat Unice.

The two teams would trade chances and DeCoste had McGrath beat while on the powerplay, but his slap shot nailed the crossbar and the game remained tied. Schram had Unice beat with eight minutes to play in the game, but the bar bailed him out as well.
 
Brock took its first lead of the game with 5:23 left, when a point shot from Andrew Radjenovic missed the net before Johnson Andrews reagined control of the puck and banged it home with Unice out of his net.

With Unice pulled and only 11 seconds left in the game, the Mustangs tied the game in dramatic fashion. DeCoste’s point shot was deflected by Clarke into the Brock net, sending the game to an extra frame.

Clarke won it for the Mustangs as he beat McGrath at 2:31 of overtime. Steve Reese earned the sole assist on the game winning goal.

Western outshot Brock 42-32 in the game.

The Mustangs return to action next Thursday as they travel to Guelph to face the Gryphons. They then will play the Waterloo Warriors at home Friday night with a scheduled 7:00 p.m. puck drop at Thompson Arena. For tickets go to http://westernmustangstickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/category.asp?id=94.