LONDON, Ont. – A three-point performance from Jacob Harris lifted the Ottawa Gee-Gees to a 5-2 win over the Western Mustangs on Friday night at Thompson Arena.
"We were on our heels right from the start unfortunately. Credit to Ottawa, they're a fast team, probably the fastest team we've faced this year," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer, "I thought we rebounded very well early in the second and I thought we had a number of opportunities in the second period to tie it if not maybe go ahead there."
With the loss, Western falls to 7-14-2, and remains three points behind Waterloo for the West Division's final playoff berth. Meanwhile, Ottawa extends its winning streak to seven, and improves to 14-7-3 on the season.
Harris scored two goals and assisted on another to power the Gee-Gees offence on Friday. Antoine Pouliot, Mitchell Gibson, and Cody Drover also found the back of the net for Ottawa, while Graham Hunt made 39 saves in the win.
Braeden Salverda and
Connor Chartier provided the scoring for Western in the loss, with
Greg Dodds stopping 31 shots in net.
Ottawa blew the game open in the second period, scoring just prior to the four minute mark, and then netting two goals in a two minute span shortly after the midway point of the frame. Despite losing the period 3-0, the Mustangs outshot the Gee-Gees 16-13 and seemingly deserved a better fortune.
The Gee-Gees opened the game's scoring on an early power play in the first frame when Gibson slid home a pass from Harris in front of the net.
Pouliot doubled the lead early in the second period. After Hunt made a nice stop on
Spenser Cobbold, Pouliot rushed up the ice and picked a corner to extend the Ottawa advantage.
For the next 10 minutes, it seemed as though Western would close the gap. Led by a line of
Matt Marantz, Trent Ouellete and Cobbold, the Mustangs furiously attacked the net but could not beat Hunt.
"They were just keeping the game simple, and I think that's been something for us that we sometimes get away from a little bit," said Singer.
After not capitalizing on the offensive pressure, a two-minute span including goals by Drover and Harris that put the game out of reach.
Drover's goal occurred when an
Austin Adam slapshot deflected off a Mustang and the puck rolled to centre ice for a Gee-Gees break. Despite a good recovery by Adam, the puck headed behind the net, and Drover was sitting at the side for an easy tap-in after a pass from OUA assist leader Kevin Domingue.
Salverda, playing in just his seventh game of the season, scored the first goal for the Mustangs on the night on an innocent-looking shot from the boards in the third period. It was the first goal and point of his OUA career.
"I just kinda threw it on net, didn't have much else, hoping for the best, and I guess he went to catch it and it just trickled in," said Salverda, "I didn't really know what happened until I saw it in the back of the net."
Harris answered with his second marker of the game a little less than three minutes later before Chartier added his seventh of the season just past the 14-minute mark to close out the game's scoring.
The Mustangs are right back on the ice tomorrow as they square off against the McGill Redmen at Thompson Arena in Western's final home game of the regular season. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m., and fans can tune in live on OUA.tv and CHRW Radio 94.9 FM.
