Box Score LONDON, Ont. - Matt Clarke provided the late game heroics, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime, to lift the Western Mustangs to a 3-2 win over the Concordia Stingers in their regular season debut on Friday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"You're going to have some ugly wins and they're a whole lot better than ugly losses," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer following the game. "We're certainly not in the column of an ugly loss tonight. Great battle by Concordia, I thought they played very, very well, they played a great road game."
 
Special teams were the story of the night as a string of penalties during the first two periods put the Mustangs penalty killers to the test, facing five Concordia power plays before Western was given a man advantage of their own. Overall the Stingers went 1-6 on the power play while the Mustangs converted one of their three opportunities.
 
"There are games when things aren't going your way, you've got to find ways to win," said Matt Clarke. "It's not always going to be pretty. If you learn how to win ugly right away it can go a long way."
 
The London native certainly found a way to win in overtime, taking advantage of a penalty to Concordia's Youssef Kabbaj and firing a shot from the high slot through a crowd in front of the net to get Western's season started off with a win.
 
Josh Unice stopped 42 shots in the victory while Antonio Mastropietro turned away 39 shots for the Stingers.
 
Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage throughout the majority of the opening period until Stefan Salituro was able to notch his first goal in a Mustangs uniform, blasting a shot from the slot past Mastropietro to make it 1-0 for Western.
 
The Mustangs didn't wait long to extend their lead following intermission, scoring only 1:43 into the second period as a rebound from a Zach Harnden shot bounced off the skate of a Concordia defender and into the open net. A penalty shot for Clarke midway through the period gave Western an excellent chance to extend the lead, however he was denied by Mastropietro to keep the game at 2-0.
 
Just over a minute later Concordia notched their first goal of the game, cutting the lead to 2-1 off of a goal from Dany Potvin. Despite some excellent opportunities for both sides in the second half of the frame both netminders kept it a one-goal game.
 
Similar to the opening 20 minutes neither team was able to get onto the scoreboard in the third until the latter stages of the frame. After the Mustangs successfully killed off five Concordia power plays through the first two periods the Stingers finally proved successful with the man advantage, scoring on a slap shot off the draw to tie the game at 2-2 with only 3:28 left, eventually sending the game to overtime.
 
It would be the Mustangs taking advantage of the power play in the extra period, however, as Clarke netted the winner at 3:06 off of assists from Kyle De Coste and Daniel Erlich.
 
The Mustangs don't have long to rest as they return to the ice on Saturday, October 12 for a tilt with the UQTR Patriotes. Game time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and fans can watch live across the globe on Mustangs TV.