London, ON – The Mustangs battled to win their home opener 5-3 over the York Lions Friday night.
The game got out to a slow start for Western as York's Kelsey McHolm scored just 26 seconds into the game.
"Giving up a goal that early in a game shows we weren't really ready off the jump," said Mustangs Head Coach Candice Moxley "The girls responded though, so you can't be too upset about that. We have a good group in our locker room and they showed that character tonight"
The Mustangs rebounded later in the period. Newly named co-captain Renae Nevills would net the first goal of the season for Western when she picked up the puck at the Lions blue line and fired a wrist shot past the York goaltender to tie the game at 1-1.
"The hard work on that goal started way before I put it in," said Nevills "Jenna (Maclean) did a really good step up to get the puck moving forward and (Emma) Suitor battled hard and the puck just bounced out for me"
York would strike first in the second period when Kelsey McHolm netted a goal to take the 2-1 lead.
Western would respond quickly though, as Brooke DiCicco would chip the puck towards the net and after a bounce off the York defender, it slid past York's goaltender Lauren Dubie and in to tie the game at 2-2.
"I came off the bench, the puck went to the wide sider, Clarky (April Clark) chipped it off the boards, I tried to cut in and the puck bounced off a stick and went in," said DiCicco of the goal.
Just before the midway point of the period, the Mustangs would strike again when Kamma Andersen sprung Hannah Irwin in for a breakaway and she made no mistake burying the shot to take a 3-2 lead.
The Mustangs got themselves into some penalty trouble later in the period, going down to 5 on 3 after Irwin was called for Holding & Sydnee Baker sat for 2 for body checking. The Mustangs were able to kill off both penalties and retain the one-goal lead.
"We weren't sure what York setup was going to be so it was a bit of trial and error to start that one," said Moxley " As soon as we saw what they were doing, we knew how to man our rotation and held them off the board so that was good."
York would pull their goalie with just under 3 minutes remaining for the extra attacker but the Mustangs defenders ground hard to keep the puck out of their net and hold on to for the win.
The game was also the debut of the Mustangs newly announced leadership group. Renae Nevills was wearing the captains C on her sweater for the home opener, she will share the captaincy with April Clark. Nevills will wear the C at home for the first half of the season and Clark will wear it on the road and they will swap halfway through the season. Rachel Armstrong and Emma Suitor will be alternate captains as well.
"We were both in the coaches room when Candice told us, we just kind of gave each other a high five. She's my best friend so its great to share it with her" said Nevills of being named co-captain with Clark.
"Her leadership in the locker room and away from the rink is second to none," said Moxley of Nevills "The girls know they can always go to her and she does the same thing on the ice for us. She and Clark together are the perfect pair and they complement each other really well."
The Mustangs will return to action Saturday night when the Brock Badgers come to Thompson Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.
Tickets are available at
westernmustangs.ca/tickets.
