LONDON, Ont.- The Western Mustangs defeated the Brock Badgers 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena, improving to a 13-3 record, and keeping sole possession of first place in the OUA West. Western extended its winning streak to eleven as the team played its last game of 2012. 

Head coach Patrick Powers attributes much of the recent success to having a very balanced team. “We have some of the top scorers in Canada right now, but tonight we had guys finding the score sheet who aren’t our main producers." 

The Mustangs found themselves into penalty trouble early, but were able to kill off the Badgers powerplay unit multiple times.

Defenseman Geoff Killing got things started for Western at 3:22 while the teams played 4-on-4. Killing came down low off the left wing and fired a wrist shot over Brock’s Dalton McGrath, sending the water bottle atop the goalie net flying. Kyle DeCoste and Tyler Cuthbert earned assists on Killing’s second goal of the season. 

Killing continued his impressive play midway through the period with impressive shot blocking and penalty killing. 

Western’s Josh Unice stood tall throughout the first period, stopping all 10 shots he faced.

McGrath kept his team within one goal after the initial frame, stopping 10 of the 11 shots that Western fired at him. 

The Badgers came out flying and within minutes, Unice had to stop 2 shots point blank to keep his team up 1-0. 

Western’s Matt Marantz had a great chance to give his team a two goal lead with Brock’s McGrath caught out of the net, however the goaltender somehow managed to keep the puck out. 

The Badgers finally got on the board at 8:30 of the second to tie the game at one. Daniel Tanel took a feed from Kaine Geldart and fired the puck past Unice.

The second period was flooded with opportunities for both teams, but both goaltenders did their jobs and the game remained tied 1-1 after 40 minutes. Both teams had 13 shots over the period.
 
Western’s head coach found Brock to be sitting back in the neutral zone, and sent the message to his team during the second intermission. “I told the guys we can’t stickhandle through them. We need to get it to the red line and get it deep," said Powers. 

The Mustangs pressed hard during the initial few minutes of the third, and were rewarded 4:02 into the final frame.

Adam Stoykewych backhanded his third goal of the season past McGrath to make it 2-1 in favour of Western. Linemates Adam McKee and Shaun Furlong earned assists on the play.

Marantz gave the Mustangs a two goal cushion after blasting home a one-timer off a pass from Julian Cimadamore at 11:48.

The Badgers had chances to trim the lead but were turned aside by a strong effort from Unice.

With McGrath pulled, captain Jason Furlong scored Western’s fourth goal of the game on the open net and sealed the win for the Mustangs.

Western outshot Brock 14-11 over the third, and 38-37 over 60 minutes.
 
The Mustangs now take a well-rewarded break, and will return to action with an exhibition game vs. Windsor on December 30^th at Thompson Arena with a scheduled 7:30 PM puck drop. Western will return to regular season play January 4^th, 2013 in St. Catharines to rematch the Brock Badgers.

The team returns home to kick off the second half of the regular season versus the UOIT Ridgebacks on January 5^th, 2013 with a 7:00 PM puck drop at Thompson Arena. For tickets, click here.