Box Score TORONTO, Ont. — By the end, the Mustangs had nearly played two full hockey games. But into the third overtime period of game two of Western’s playoff series with the Toronto Varsity Blues, Katelyn Gosling scored, giving the Mustangs the 4-3 win. With the victory, the Mustangs take the best of three series 2-0.
 
After winning the opening game of the quarterfinal series 2-0, the Mustangs were looking to close out the series tonight at Varsity Arena in Toronto.
 
The opening period saw the Mustangs firing a lot of pucks at Toronto goaltender, Krista Funke, but with no success. Finally, at the 15:32 mark, Stacey Scott solved Funke and blasted a puck into the back of the net to give the Mustangs the early 1-0 lead.
 
But their lead wouldn’t last for long because just over two minutes later Toronto’s Amanda Ricker beat Mustangs goaltender Kelly Campbell to even the game at 1-1.
 
The second period began with Toronto on the offence looking to extend their lead, and hopefully extend the series to a third game. At 2:58 of the frame, Toronto's Ragan Danford was fed a pass from Taylor Day and made no mistake, hitting the mesh and giving Toronto their first lead of the night.
 
But shortly after, Danford would take a costly penalty to give the Mustangs the man advantage. The Mustangs would benefit from the powerplay as Gosling received a pass from Tara Cation and scored for her team, tying the game up at 2-2. The game would remain tied at the end of 40 minutes.
 
Both teams came out of the locker rooms eager to earn the win in the third period. However, Toronto completely dominated the period offensively, registering 18 shots to Western’s three. Despite their constant pressure, Campbell stood on her head, turning away shot after shot, keeping her team in the game.
 
But with a little over two minutes to play in the third, Toronto’s Ricker scored her second of the night to break the tie and give her team the 3-2 lead in the dying minutes of the game.
 
With the Mustangs desperate to end the series tonight, they put on the pressure late to try and push the game to overtime. With less than 30 seconds to play, Scott would deliver, scoring her second marker of the night and keeping the Mustangs alive for a little while longer.
 
Since the game was tied at 3-3 after 60 minutes of play, it would require overtime to determine a winner.
 
What resulted next was a marathon. Both teams were fighting hard to gain any kind of advantage in the extra period, but with no luck. After nothing was solved in the first overtime, they would need a second overtime period. And after nothing was solved during that, they would need a third.
 
Tired after playing for nearly an hour and forty minutes, the Mustangs finally found a break when Gosling managed to break the tie and score the triple overtime winner, giving the Mustangs the much deserved 4-3 win and the 2-0 series victory.
 
Campbell deserves praise for turning away 47 shots on the night.
 
With the win, the Mustangs will advance to the OUA semi-final and await the winner from the Queen’s and Windsor series. Currently the Windsor Lancers are leading 1-0.