LONDON, Ont. — Stephen Gaskin capped off his two point game with the overtime winner on Friday night, burying a feed from Stefan Salituro on the rush to give Western the edge over Laurentian and send a rowdy Thompson Arena crowd of 578 home happy with a 4-3 Mustangs victory.
 
Gaskin's effort on the two-on-one put an end to a scrappy game that saw the two teams trade chances for the majority of play. Coming off a week that saw them more or less shut down a strong team in McGill, the Mustangs didn't exactly paint the Mona Lisa on Friday night. But for hockey fans? There was a lot to like.
 
And Mustangs' assistant coach David Kontzie wasn't complaining either.
 
"It was a great game actually— a good one to coach, to be a part of," said Kontzie after the game. "I think both teams came in and played the game plan that they wanted to. Laurentian works extremely hard, they're very well-coached, they're an aggressive team that plays between the whistles. We thought we had a decent game— we did a good job five-one five, we kept the scoring opportunities down, and the shots, overall, we managed quite well."
 
One thing Western did manage to do quite well for the better part of the night was neutralize Voyageurs' defence man and leading scorer Vincent Llorca. For a player who had compiled all 13 of his points in his last six games, Llorca was awfully quiet for most of Friday's game. But, with his team down a goal late in the third, the sophomore defender would change that, ringing a slap shot off the cross bar and in to send the matchup into overtime. 
 
That play would make sure Laurentian walked away with at least a point— a point that they certainly earned after holding the fire to Western's feet— both physically and offensively— whenever they could. The emphasis there is on physically, as the two teams were going at it between the whistles all night, as evidenced by the 31 penalty minutes handed out in the third period alone.
 
The game started out scrappy too, with both teams making sure to finish their checks and get in each other's faces. As a result, 18 penalty minutes were assessed in the period, highlighted by a checking to the head penalty to Laurentian's Brandon Francisco that earned him a two and a ten. Both teams moved the puck well on the power play in the frame, meaning that both Dodds and Valiquette each had to make some nice saves early.
 
Special teams turned out to be key on the night. While just two of the seven goals were scored on the power play, the majority of play was spent with players in the box as the two teams finished with a combined 53 minutes in penalties in the game.
 
[Special teams were] very important," Kontzie acknowledged post-game. "We spend a lot of time on it, we've watched a lot of video of Laurentian— they've got a great power play. They move the puck very well so we knew that we had a system we had to follow and block shots and really take care of the middle of the ice and I thought today we did a pretty good job."
 
Fresh off of a big shutout of McGill last Saturday and being named one of the Mustangs' Athletes of the Week, Dodds looked confident early, containing rebounds with ease and locating the puck through traffic when he had to. He made a pair of solid saves in the frame, first coming all the way across his crease to rob Nick Esposto on the Voyageurs' opening power play before adding a snazzy glove save with just over five minutes left in the frame.
 
But after facing just five shots in the first period, Dodds would have a rough start to the second, getting beat on the first shot he faced. Nick Esposto would do the damage for the Voyageurs, keeping on a two-on-one and beating Dodds' high on the glove side. Western's sophomore backstop didn't have much of a chance on the goal, as Esposto would creep in as close as the hash marks before he was forced to get the quick wrist shot off.
 
Six minutes later Dodds would have a chance to relive almost the exact play, this time getting the better of Dylan Fitze with his glove with Fitze attempting to beat him in the same spot. On the other side of the ice, Valiquette shined for the Voyageurs, cleaning up some of his early rebound-control problems to stop 15 shots in the second after turning aside all 14 shots in the first. Perhaps his best save of the frame came on a point shot from Jake Worrad—a shot that Valiquette picked up despite heavy traffic and snagged cleanly with his glove.
 
Alex Micallef would end up ruining his clean sheet with just under three minutes left in the period, however, picking up the loose puck after an unsuccessful pass attempt to the front of the net and using some impressive skating skills to finish on a nifty wrap-around. Valiquette finished the night with 33 saves on 37 shots— a line that doesn't do his great performance justice.
 
It wouldn't take the Mustangs long to get back on the board in the third period, as Kyle De Coste found Steve Reese all alone on the goal-line with a nifty pass and Reese used the open space to walk out and front and lift a backhand shot past the shoulder of Valiquette. Laurentian responded by turning up the heat on the Mustangs, resulting in Western taking two straight penalties— one to Noah Schwartz and one to Matt Marantz.
 
The Mustangs would kill off the penalty to Schwartz but Laurentian would still make them pay on the five-on-four, tying the game up with Esposto's second of the night. With a big crowd forming in front of the net, Esposto took a feed from his linemate Marc-Alain Begin and snapped a shot through the small gap between Dodds and the short-side post. Ten minutes later, Adam Mckee put the Mustangs back in front, making a nifty play to tap the puck to himself near the Voyageurs' blueline before beating Valiquette over the pad on the rush.
 
Western will have little time to rest after Friday's back and forth game, as they welcome Nipissing to Thompson Arena on Saturday night. The Lakers also won on Friday, beating the Guelph Gryphons 2-1 in Guelph. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
 
Notes
 
Laurentian entered Friday's game as one of the top teams in the OUA for power play opportunities and lived up to their penalty-drawing reputation, finishing with a game-high seven opportunities… Western entered the game with the league's second-ranked penalty kill and lived up to their reputation too, allowing just one goal on Laurentian's seven chances… Heading in, just five players on Laurentian had suited up in all eleven games of their season, while 24 skaters on the team had gotten into at least one game. Western has had 21 players suit up this season… Western's highest penalty total before Friday was 26 against Brock on October 11, while Laurentian's was 50 against Ryerson on October 9. Nine minutes of penalties to Kyle De Coste in the third period, including a match penalty for abuse of an official, helped the Mustangs break that mark with 31… Noah Schwartz played a solid game but had his eight-match point-streak snapped on Friday, while Reese added to his team leading point total with a two point night…