LONDON, Ont. – Sebastien Auger stood on his head and Pierre Olivier-Morin added a pair to help UQTR down Western at Thompson Arena on Saturday afternoon.
A night after shocking Concordia with a big come-from-behind victory, the Mustangs just couldn't seem to find the same magic on Saturday. They entered the third period down a pair but couldn't solve Auger, who finished with 31 saves.
Auger made 11 of those saves in the third period, which saw Western press for short bursts of time. But fatigue from the quick back-to-back began to show for the Mustangs, and the Patriotes ultimately controlled play for the better part of the final frame.
"I have to give a lot of credit to Trois-Rivieres," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer. "They are a very good hockey team—the best hockey team we've faced in the CIS this year so far in the regular season and in exhibition."
For the time being Western remains in first with a 7-2-0 record, one point above second place York. UQTR is also on top of their division with an 8-1-1 record and a two-game win streak in hand. The fact that the best team in the East was able to hand Western their worst loss of the season wasn't a surprise to many, least of all Singer.
"They're one of the top teams in the country: they've got a lot of depth, they've got great speed, they've got great structure, and they certainly took it to us tonight," said Singer. "I thought the effort was there, it certainly wasn't our best performance of the season but I thought we were right there for most of the game.
"We know that we've got lots of work to do with our young team and we'll keep working."
One thing that Western's been able to do well for most of the season is get on the board first, but they were unable to do that against the Patriotes on Saturday. Morin scored his first of the night just under five minutes into the game to put UQTR on top before Jonathan Laser responded with Western's first nine minutes later.
When the teams returned for the second period the Mustangs looked like a new team, controlling play for the better part of the first five minutes. Auger kept the game tied with an excellent glove save on Matt Marantz in tight.
Not only did that save help snap Marantz' season-long point streak at eight games, but it was also part of a series of events that turned the momentum in UQTR's favour. The final straw came when the Patriotes killed off a penalty from Mathieu Lemay, who made up for his infraction by picking up the puck and beating Dodds on a tight wrap-around.
"It's tough, that goal killed our momentum a little bit for sure," said Singer. "But there's no excuses. These guys are all good players, [and they've] played the game a long time. We had to find a way to rebound and unfortunately we didn't."
Charles-David Beaudoin added to the Patriote's lead late in the second only to see Connor Chartier score to cut the lead in half 14 seconds later. But UQTR rebounded again, getting a goal from Morin to head into the second intermission up 4-2. Carl-Antoine Deslisle scored the only goal of the third period to make the final score 5-2 for the Patriotes.
Rookie Spenser Cobbold had an assist on Chartier's goal and was also in on Laser's first period tally. The former Charlottetown Islander from the QMJHL has settled in quite nicely for the Mustangs and is quietly putting together a solid start with nine points in nine games.
"It's a lot different because I go from being a vet to a rookie so it's just the age pretty much, that's about it—it's a bit more physical too," said Cobbold when asked about adjusting from junior to the OUA. "I feel like I'm battling my consistency a little bit but hopefully I can stay more consistent and keep playing my game."
Greg Dodds took the loss for the Mustangs despite a strong showing. He stood on his head in the first period and stopped a total of 28 shots through the last two, but some tough luck had him on the losing side for the first time this year. If he was fatigued from playing consecutive nights he didn't show it, making a number of key saves to give Western a chance.
Next up for Western are a pair of games against Lakehead at Thompson Arena. The games take place at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and both can be streamed live on OUA.tv.
