LONDON, Ont. – A stellar performance from the Mustangs special teams units along with the first shutout of Carmen Lasis' career helped Western start off 2018 on a winning note with a 3-0 victory over the Waterloo Warriors on Thursday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"It's big for our momentum," said head coach Kelly Paton about the victory. "Waterloo's close to us in the standings and we have a couple games in hand on them so we knew it could be a big swing for us if we came out with three points."
 
With the win Western takes over second place in the OUA with a record of 8-1-3-2 to sit behind the Queen's Gaels. Waterloo is now tied for fifth at 6-2-4-0, matching the Nipissing Lakers with 22 points.
 
Western's second ranked power play reaffirmed their status as a substantial threat on the ice, as Edie Levesque capitalized on the man advantage to score the game winning goal. Western was just as strong at the other end of the rink, as the Mustangs were also flawless on the penalty kill throughout all three frames.
 
Levesque, Rachael Armstrong and Olivia Kariunas were responsible for the three purple and white goals, while Ali Beres added two assists in the win.
 
"One of the strengths of our team is that we do have a lot of depth, so having contributions from [a variety of] players is obviously something we're happy about and want to continue moving forward," said Paton.
 
The Mustangs twice found themselves on the power play in the first period, but were unable to break through the Warriors penalty kill. The first opportunity came just minutes into the game but was quickly neutralized by a purple and white penalty, while the second saw Waterloo fend off the Mustangs for the full two minutes.
 
For their part, Western also killed off a penalty in the first frame.
 
The Warriors special teams didn't falter until their third penalty of the night, when Edie Levesque converted assists from Evra Levesque and Beres directly after the faceoff to beat Reimer and score the game-winning goal.
 
The third frame ushered in a more aggressive offence from the Warriors, who outshot the Mustangs 13-8 to hold the shot advantage for the first time all evening. Waterloo took control of the third frame, concentrating action in the purple and white end of the ice, but rookie Carmen Lasis continuously denied Waterloo's attempts at breaking onto the scoreboard.
 
"She comes in with fundamentals that are really strong, and we've spoken to her about some areas in which we want to see her develop," said Paton about Lasis. "But she made the big saves when we needed them today and was rewarded with her first OUA shutout."
 
"[Lasis] played amazing tonight," added Beres. "She's been really solid for us, and it's always a huge energy boost for us on the bench when she makes those big saves."
 
Meanwhile, special teams continued to command attention by allowing the Mustangs to escape unscathed from another four penalties – two of which overlapped to see a five-on-three disadvantage for Western.
 
"It can dictate the outcome of the game pretty easily," noted Paton about the importance of special teams. "Today we were at the losing end of the advantage situation, and had a big kill on the five-on-three. We did a good job there preventing any quality chances."
 
Despite a more aggressive style of play from the Warriors it was the Mustangs who added points to the board as Armstrong extended Western's lead in the first few minutes of the final frame, while Kariunas scored an empty net goal with just 45 seconds left on the clock to bring the final score to 3-0.
 
The Mustangs will be back in action on Saturday, January 6 at 7 p.m. when they travel to Toronto to take on the Ryerson Rams. Fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv