LONDON, Ont. – The Ryerson Rams got off to a strong start, scoring four times over the first two periods on their way to a 5-2 win over the Western Mustangs on Thursday night at Thompson Arena.
"They're a great team, but our effort wasn't there tonight. We could have been a lot better," noted
Rob Polesello. "We gave them a lot of chances that we shouldn't have. All-in-all they're a great team, but it should have been a better game for us."
Western's record now moves to 4-9-2 to sit ninth in the OUA West Division, while the win boosts the Rams into a three-way tie for second place with 10-3-1.
Steven Beyers and
Cordell James provided the offence for Western, with both goals coming off assists from Polesello. Five different Rams broke onto the scoreboard, with Alex Basso, Steve Harland, Andrew Mullen, Jared Walsh, and Mitchell Skapski each scoring once.
The Mustangs opened up the game by keeping Ryerson goaltender Taylor Dupuis busy, with
Kyle Pettit and
Trevor Warnaar testing the sophomore's skills. Western's offence continued to create chances to get on the board, but Dupuis was unwilling to allow the Ram's lead to change.
Basso would put the Rams on the board within the first few minutes with a shot from an odd angle, to give Ryerson an early lead, which was extended towards the end of the period with a power play goal from Harland.
The Rams continued to put pressure on the purple and white defence throughout the second frame, culminating in an additional two goals towards the end of the period.
Mullen extended the Rams lead to three goals with a marker at 13:27, before Walsh made it 4-0 for Ryerson with a little more than a minute remaining in the period.
Western began mounting their comeback as soon as they hit the ice for the final period, needing less than four minutes for Polesello to find Beyers and set him up for the first purple and white goal of the game.
"Between the second intermission things were said, and we knew that we had to come out – with a 4-0 deficit – and do something, play with pride and just get back into the game" said Polesello.
"[Beyers] had been out for a couple weeks and we just got him back," noted Polesello when asked about on-ice chemistry. "We played the last five games together. I think me, him, and Cordell fit really well in getting offensive chances so it's definitely a good line."
Seemingly reinvigorated by the goal, the purple and white offence began to find their rhythm as they outshot the Rams 16-4 over the final 20 minutes.
James netted the second Mustang goal of the game with a little more than five minutes left on the clock, sending the puck past Dupuis. However, that would be as close as things would get, with Skapski adding an empty net goal to make it a 5-2 final for the Rams.
"The first two periods we came out slow," said James about the team's performance. "In the third period we really brought it to them and showed that we can stick around with those guys. We just have to carry it into tomorrow. […] We want to focus on what we did in the third period and bring it into tomorrow."
The Mustangs will be back in Thompson Arena to wrap up the first half of their season on Friday night with a contest against Windsor. Game time is set for 7 p.m., with fans able to catch all the action live at OUA.tv.
