Box Score LONDON, Ont. – After two straight weekends on the road the Western Mustangs men’s hockey team returned to the friendly confines of the Thompson Arena Friday night for a showdown with the McGill Redmen. Clearly the Mustangs know how to throw a welcome home party, winning an 8-4 thriller over the Redmen.
 
“It’s funny when the players change but the uniforms stay the same and the rivalry still exists,” said Western head coach Patrick Powers on the victory over one of the team’s most intense rivals. “We both have a lot of new guys and there is still a lot of tension out there. I just told the guys we have to stay focused on our game and we’ll be successful.”
 
The Mustangs spread the scoring around against the Redmen, with eight different Mustangs finding the back of net behind the McGill netminders. Along with the large number of goal scorers a trio of Mustangs had three points on the night with Zach Harnden, Matt Clarke, and Adam McKee each recording multiple points. The Redmen had a similar balance with each goal in the loss coming from a different player.
 
“We thought that [our depth] was going to be one of our strengths this year. Right now our fourth line is playing every bit as well as our first line, contributing in different ways but contributing none the less,” said Powers.
 
The depth of both teams was on display all night, with neither side slowing down at any point, keeping up a quick pace without shying away from the physicality expected of a game between such fierce rivals. From the moment the puck dropped it was a fast and physical contest with neither team willing to give an inch.
 
McGill’s Justin Ducharme got things going only 1:39 into the game, surprising Mustangs goaltender Josh Unice and slipping one past the Ohio native for an early lead. Western then responded less than a minute later as Steven Gaskin put one past Hubert Morin to tie things up before David Corrente fired a shot from the point to put the Mustangs in front only 3:34 into the game.
 
David Rose would tie things up with a power play goal before Harnden would again move the Mustangs in front with a power play goal of his own that afterwards saw Morin relieved by Andrew Fleming in the McGill net. It wouldn’t be the last of Morin however, as he’d relieve Fleming in the latter stages of the second period.
 
The second period started out the same as the first with both teams playing an aggressive style and refusing to back down. Again the scoring was fast and furious with three goals coming within the first five minutes, including a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal scored by Brandon Greenside with assists from Matt Marantz and Corrente, to make it 5-3 Western early in the second.
 
Western decided to wait an entire four minutes and 23 seconds before putting more points on the scoreboard, when Daniel Erlich broke up a McGill breakout attempt to set up Kyle De Coste who scored the Mustangs sixth goal of the game after putting in Erlich’s rebound.
 
The Mustangs began to run away with things a few minutes later as back-to-back penalties to McGill’s Nicolas Biniek allowed Western to widen their lead on power play goals from Marantz and Erlich.
 
McGill’s Christophe Longpre-Poirier would score only a minute into the third period appearing to set the stage for a third period full of scoring, however it was not to be and the game would finish with an 8-4 score in favour of the Mustangs.
 
Although impressive in their victory over the pereniall OUA East powerhouse Redmen there’s no time for the team to rest on their laurels as they return to the ice tomorrow night against the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Thompson Arena.