Box Score LONDON, Ont. – In front of a raucous crowd at the Thompson Arena the Western Mustangs men’s hockey team lost a close 5-3 game against the Waterloo Warriors in the deciding third game of the OUA West Semi-Final.
 
“We had a lot of successes this year," said Western interim head coach Patrick Powers. "I told the guys in the dressing room afterwards that they made this as easy a situation to step into for me as possible. They were a group of men that fought every practice, every game, and every shift. We deserved better, but unfortunately we didn’t get it tonight.”
 
Zach Harnden had one of his best games of the season, scoring a hat trick to provide all three Mustangs goals in the loss. It was the second time this season that Harnden’s scored a hat trick against the Warriors, doing the same in the Mustangs regular season opener in October.
 
With an injury to Josh Unice, John Cullen got the start in net, stopping 21 of 25 shots and making key saves throughout the game in his first career OUA playoff start. Keaton Hartigan was again between the pipes for the Warriors and continued his excellent playoff season, stopping 35 shots in the win.
 
Right from the opening puck drop it was apparent there was no love lost between the two sides with both teams taking the body throughout the opening 20 minutes. The Mustangs controlled the play in the early going, but a bad bounce off the glass in their own end sent the puck directly to Waterloo captain Kirt Hill who went top shelf to make it 1-0 for the Warriors seven minutes into the game.
 
The Mustangs regained control shortly thereafter but Waterloo extended their lead as CIS leading scorer Justin Larson slides a puck past Cullen with a little less than five minutes to play in the first.
 
Western wouldn’t wait long to respond as Harnden potted his first of the night with a power play goal off of assists from Daniel Erlich and Steve Reese to send the game to the first intermission with Waterloo holding a 2-1 lead.
 
The Mustangs kept up the momentum from the first as Harnden scored his second of the game at 5:51 of the second period just sneaking a puck past Hartigan to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Waterloo struck back quickly scoring just over two minutes later when a rebound found its way to Colin Behenna who fired it into the top of the net to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead.
 
With a little over five minutes left in the period Erlich connected with Harnden on a nice passing play to tie the game at three and give Harnden the hat trick. Neither team was able to find the back of the net for the remainder of the frame and the game headed into the third period tied at three.
 
The final twenty minutes could only be described as intense with both teams battling for their playoff lives. A little more than four minutes into the period Waterloo’s Ryan Molle broke the deadlock with assists coming from Brett Mackie and Hill to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead.
 
Western continued to press, at times overwhelming the Waterloo defence in the final half of the period, however Hartigan was able to stand his ground and a late empty net goal from Joe Underwood made it a 5-3 final.
 
Waterloo will move on to the OUA West Final, taking on the Windsor Lancers.
 
The Mustangs will now turn their attention to off-season and begin preparations for next year. With the majority of the roster returning the Mustangs should once again be a top team in the OUA West next season.