LONDON, Ont. – Trevor Warnaar had the bigger picture in mind.
 
Immediately after assisting on Cole Benson's first OUA goal in the third period of Friday night's game, the sophomore winger skated directly to the referee to ask for the milestone puck. 
 
Benson's goal was not the game winner, nor was it the prettiest of the game. In fact, it was the fifth goal in Western's 6-1 home opening victory over Laurier at Thompson Arena. But the moment helped encapsulate the most important storyline of the night: Western's youth movement is alive and well, and these guys are good. 

Injuries and circumstance dictated that the Mustangs would have to dress a total of eight rookies and just five defencemen on Friday but the lineup didn't look out of place, overcoming some early bumps to grind out a big win in their home opener. As weird as it sounds in a 6-1 game, the win really was a grind, as it was a one-goal game through two.
 
"I thought we did a not bad job tonight," said head coach Clarke Singer. "We had forty-plus shots and a lot of those were through traffic or coming down the wing and shooting and creating a rebound in the slot. But obviously our third period was our best period, just because of the goals and I think we carried the play."
 
Western scored four goals in a busy third period to put the game out of reach, securing a win for backstop Peter Delmas in his OUA debut. Delmas, who sat out last year due to OUA eligibility rules after joining the Mustangs from the pro ranks, stopped 22 of 23 shots to lock down Western's second straight victory.
 
"He played a great game tonight for us—controlled the play not only in the net but with the puck behind the goal line and made some smart plays, which is a pretty important part of the game at this level," said Singer of Delmas. "Both he and [fellow goaltender Greg Dodds] have been fabulous for us through exhibition and Peter is growing every day."
 
Delmas was supported with some serious firepower from the Mustangs offence on a night that saw the Mustangs score five straight to close out the game. Benson, Trent Ouellette, Shaun Furlong, Ray Huether, and Luke Karaim each had a goal and an assist while rookie Spenser Cobbold had a pair of apples to round out the list of multi-point performers.
 
In total, eleven Western players got on the score sheet. Five of those players were rookies, all of whom were picking up their first points of the year.
 
One of those players, Jonathan Laser, got the scoring started for Western in the second frame, firing home his first goal of the season five minutes into his first OUA game. Laurier would respond a minute later but Trent Ouellette would give Western their second lead mid-way through the frame, picking up his own rebound and flipping it over Vinny Merante's pad.
 
"I think I had about three shots on net and the last one I just kind of put it over him," Ouellete said of his game-winning marker. "Fortunately the ref didn't blow the whistle because I couldn't even see the puck for a bit. I think each guy on our line had about three opportunities out front there—the puck's kind of just bouncing around."

Ouellette's line, which consists of him, Karaim, and Matt Marantz, accounted for five points on the night. CHRW's Steve Cobb and John Urban had taken to calling them Western's "energy line" after their early performances and Ouellete wasn't about to stop them.
 
"Two easy guys to play with, pretty much just go to the net and usually they find me or we find one of each other," said Ouellete. "We created a lot of energy tonight and I thought we overpowered their lines."
 
"Those guys have found some chemistry in the regular season and played very well not only tonight but they played very well at Brock as well," added Singer on the line. "That's a veteran line for us, even though Trent's only in second year he plays like a veteran. He's a smart guy and plays hard and I trust him a lot."
 
Another notable presence on the ice on Friday was Furlong, who teamed up with Huether to create two pretty goals in the third and added four penalty minutes on the night. Huether had by far the best assist of the night, spinning in the corner to find an open Furlong in the slot for Western's second of three quick goals to start the final frame.
 
Those three goals came within a 1:05 span, ruining what had otherwise been a solid night for Laurier's Merante. He faced a whopping total of 41 shots on the night, stopping 35 of them for his first loss of the season. The two teams combined for 11 infractions but neither had much power play time, as most of the penalties called were offsetting.

Next up for the Mustangs is a game against the Ryerson Rams, who come to London Saturday with a 2-1 record. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at Thompson Arena.
 
NOTES: Along with Benson, Huether and Laser were the other rookies to score their first OUA goals… Western didn't have many chances on Friday, but it's worth mentioning that they've yet to score on the power play this season. On the flip side, they also haven't allowed a power play goal… Through two games, Western's goalies have combined to put up a league-best .963 save percentage, although it is a small sample size.