LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs needed a shootout to extending their winning streak to nine games, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 6-5 Friday night at Thompson Arena.

It was a physical game was evident throughout the entire affair and both teams exchanged leads numerous times to keep the fans on the edge of their seats. Steve Reese and Adam McKee scored in the shootout for Western to give the team their eleventh win of the year.

The Mustangs got off to a slow start and failed to clear the puck numerous times, leading to the Warriors first goal of the game early in the opening period. Steve Whitely’s point beat Josh Unice at 1:33 to give Waterloo an early 1-0 lead.??

A great individual effort by McKee tied the game at 6:28. McKee came out from behind the net and beat Waterloo’s Keaton Hartigan to give his team some momentum.

Waterloo regained the lead at 11:43 after Brett Mackie batted in a floating puck behind Unice. Justin Larson and Josh Woolley earned assists on the goal. ??

The Mustangs power play unit went to work and tied the game once again at 15:04. Matt Clarke’s point shot deflected off a stick and the puck soared high into the air, just over Hartigan to make the game 2-2 after the opening 20 minutes.

Waterloo scored just 45 seconds into the second to take the lead for the third time in the game. Larson beat squeaked a shot by Unice on a partial breakaway to make the score 3-2 in favour of the Warriors.

Reese answered 20 seconds later as he flew down the wing and ripped one past Hartigan to keep the game even at 3-3. ?

Halfway through the second Unice mishandled the puck while on the power play, nearly putting the puck into the net and had to make a sprawling save to keep the game tied.

?Kyle De Coste gave the Mustangs their first lead of the game with a power play goal at 10:06. Clarke gave De Coste a perfect pass and he made no mistake, going bar-down and beating Hartigan.??

Mustangs captain Jason Furlong gave Western a two-goal lead just 16 seconds into the third as Furlong took a pass from teammate Matt Paltridge and beat Hartigan with a backhand high blocker-side.

Waterloo pulled to within one at 7:03 as Larson scored his second of the night with Andy Smith and Joe Underwood providing the assists on the goal. ??

Unice made an unbelievable glove save while down a man with only three minutes left in the game to keep his team ahead by one. ??

The Warriors made the game 5-5 at 1:33 with Hartigan on the bench and an extra attacker on the ice. Kurt Hill batted a rebound past Unice and forced the game into overtime. ?

Waterloo had a chance to put things away early in the extra frame, but Unice robbed Colin Behenna with another great glove save to keep the game alive. ?

Not to be outdone with the scoring chance, Western’s Paltridge thought he won it for the Mustangs but his shot rang off the iron meaning that the game would be decided via shootout. 

After both teams failed to score on their first shots, Brett Mackie beat Unice to put Waterloo on the board. David Corrente would respond on the next shot, kepping things tied up. Benhenna was turned aside by Unice, allowing Reese the opportunity to pick up the win for Western and he made no mistake beating Hartigan five-hole to clinch a 6-5 victory.

The Mustangs travel to face York on Thursday, November 29, for their next contest and then host the Brock Badgers Sunday, December 2 in their final game of the first half. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. For tickets visit http://westernmustangstickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event_listings.asp.