Box Score
LONDON, Ont.- The Brock Badgers (9-14-4) travelled to Thompson Arena Thursday night to take on the Western Mustangs (21-5-1). Despite being up two goals in the third period, the #3 ranked Mustangs fell 4-3 in a shootout and were handed only their sixth loss of the season.
Head coach Patrick Powers gave full credit to the opposition for battling back in what was a must win for Brock.
“Brock was fighting for their life, they came out hard and you have to give full credit to those guys. When you push so hard offensively, you leave yourself prone to giving up goals.”
Just over two minutes into the game, Mustangs captain Jason Furlong was sent in on a partial breakaway off a pass from teammate Zach Harnden, however Badgers goalie Dalton McGrath came up with a big save to keep the game scoreless.
Western was able to get on the board minutes later at 3:49.
Julian Cimadamore fired a shot that missed the net but the rebound came right into Kyle De Coste’s wheelhouse, and he made no mistake, going five-hole on McGrath and scoring his 11th of the season.
Brock was able to tie the game less then two minutes later at 5:13 after Kaine Geldart was able to find some open ice out front in the slot and put the puck past Western’s Josh Unice. Sean Jones and Thomas Stajan earned assists on the goal.
Midway through the period, Harnden found himself in all alone, but McGrath was up for the task and turned away the opportunity.
With time winding down in the first frame, Western had a good opportunity to regain the lead with a 3 on 2 developing, but McGrath robbed Harnden and kept the game tied through twenty minutes.
The Mustangs came out strong in the second period and managed to regain the lead early on the powerplay.
Matt Clarke’s point shot was turned aside, but De Coste was there to hammer home his second of the game past an out of position McGrath. Harnden earned an assist on De Coste’s 12th goal of the season.
Midway through the period, Unice made two big saves while his team was shorthanded.
Clarke rang one off the crossbar at 9:30 and then off the post minutes later on the powerplay. The OUA scoring leader was then denied on a breakaway with a minute left in the period, unable to give Western a much-needed two-goal cushion.
Western outshot Brock 28 to 18 after 40 minutes.
After a physical start to the third period, it was Clarke who propelled the Mustangs to a 3-1 lead.
Making use of less congested 4 on 4 play, Clarke fired a laser past McGrath while Western was attacking offensively at 7:20. Geoff Killing and David Corrente received helpers on Clarke’s 18th goal on the season.
Fighting for their lives, the Badgers refused to go away and began pressing the Mustangs relentlessly with 10 minutes to play.
Brock pulled to within one at 12:30 on the powerplay with a goal by Thomas Stajan. Stajan’s shot deflected off a Mustangs defender and trickled past Unice to make the game 3-2.
The game became tied for the second time in the game at 16:57 after Andrew Radjanovic finished off a nice passing play from Jones and Anthony Geldart and forced the game to overtime.
Moments into the sudden death frame, Corrente was robbed by McGrath who made a remarkable shoulder save to keep the game alive.
At 2:40, Adam McKee fed Killing with a pass out front but Killing’s deflection was turned aside by a mask save couresty of McGrath.
Brock’s Daniel Tanel scored in the shootout while Steve Reese, McKee and Corrente all failed on their attempts.
Powers stated, “We changed some line combos in tonight’s game and saw some good things. We’re going to hopefully build on that moving forward into Saturday’s game against Windsor.”
While Powers made it clear the final game is important for the teams moral heading into the playoffs, he was not worried about the two game losing streak.
“Last year we lost the final two games of the season and ended up in the national championship.”
Western will finish off the regular season this Saturday, February 9th when they host the Windsor Lancers (16-9-1) at Thompson Arena with a scheduled 7:00 p.m. puck drop. For tickets, please go to http://westernmustangstickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event_listings.aspx . Fans can also listen live on CHRW Radio on 94.9 FM or online at http://chrwradio.ca/listenlive/
