LONDON, Ont. – A late surge from Guelph wasn't enough to knock off the red hot Mustangs on Saturday night, as Western put up three goals through the first two periods to come away with a 3-2 victory over the Gryphons at Thompson Arena.
 
"I didn't think we were that sharp," said Western head coach Clarke Singer after the game. "I think we've played a lot better this year and I thought we were fortunate. We had good goaltending and I think [Greg Dodds] stole the show there in the second and the third period for us."
 
"It wasn't pretty," agreed defenceman Stephen Gaskin about the effort. "Definitely could have played a lot better in the second there but you could tell they were coming off a day of rest and we were coming off a double overtime win."
 
The win is Western's fifth in a row and comes a night after the purple and white edged out the Varsity Blues on the road in extra frames. The dead tired Mustangs came out hot but cooled off, firing 18 shots in the first period before being outshot 26-9 through the final two frames.
 
Considering that the Mustangs haven't played with a full roster since the first night of the season, it's a testament to the compete level of their core players that they were able to pull out the win on Saturday, despite the fact that they weren't at their sharpest.
 
"We definitely have to step up—everyone has to," said Gaskin when asked about playing short-handed early in the season. "Even the young guys who are getting a lot more ice so I think we've done a good job as a team stepping up and sticking to our systems and that's kind of been the key to our success in the first five games here."
 
Dodds picked up the win for the Mustangs with 32 saves on 34 shots while his counterpart Scott Stajcer had 26 saves in the loss. A night after they were in all three goals, the line of Luke Karaim, Matt Marantz, and Trent Ouellette combined for five points, extending the point streaks of Marantz and Ouellette to five games each.
 
Gaskin had a goal and an assist on Saturday after assisting on Alex Micallef's goal in double overtime on Friday. His goal, which saw him deposit a pass from rookie Ray Huether at the hashmarks, stood up as the game-winner after Guelph's Stephen Hiff scored in the third.
 
Hiff was joined in the goal column by teammate Michael Stevens, whose second-period marker was sandwiched between a pair from Karaim and Gaskin. Karaim's goal was a no doubter, ringing in off the crossbar and in as Stajcer watched it fly over his shoulder.
 
Guelph largely outplayed Western through the final two frames, and even in the Mustangs' 17-shot first period they struggled to make their passes early. But a late goal from Marantz on a crisp passing play between him, Karaim, and Gaskin put any early worries to rest.
 
Things would begin to get a bit tougher late in the period, as the already short-staffed Mustangs, who dressed just 18 players for the third time this season, lost veteran Shaun Furlong on a call for checking from behind. Furlong was given two and ten, leaving Western with 15 skaters for a time.
 
Five of those skaters were defencemen, but somehow they didn't look outgunned. They came up particularly strong late in the third period, when another penalty from Furlong left the Mustangs down two men facing a hungry Gryphons squad. But Dodds came up strong, stopping 14 shots in the third period alone, and Western's defence was able to do the rest.
 
"You've obviously got to have confidence in those guys, they've done a great job for the longest time—even stretching back to last year," Singer said when asked about the work of his penalty killers late in the game. "Again, they did a great job tonight—six-on-four—so you know we've got great penalty killers." 
 
"Not even thinking," said Marantz of his mentality during the late penalty kill. "Just in the moment and kill the penalty off and get the win."
 
Marantz now leads the team with nine points through five games while Ouellette is close behind with three goals and eight points. It's been a strong start to the year for a pair of guys who were asked to step up and have come through for the purple and white.
 
"Obviously a little bit, you want to score goals and get assists," Marantz responded when asked whether he was planning on a bit more offence this year. "But the important thing is that we're 5-0 and we've got to get two wins on the road next weekend."
 
Those games see the Mustangs travel north to face off against Laurentian and Nipissing. The next time they're back at home is November 6 and 7, when they face Concordia and UQTR, respectively, at Thompson Arena.
 
NOTES: Gaskin is tied for third on Western's scoring leaderboard at six points with Huether and Karaim, but isn't focused on his own stats: "Obviously I like to contribute offensively and it's nice that it's paying off, but as a group we try to get the [defence] more involved and I think you can see that right through the lineup, not just me but the young guys that have stepped up," he said… Singer was guarded when asked about the return of some his injured players in the coming weeks but his answer boiled down to no. "I don't think so," he said. "I mean we'll be lucky if we have maybe one guy back for next weekend but my guess is probably not."