In their first matchup of the season against the Laurier Golden Hawks, the Western women's ice hockey team came out victorious in a 3-2 overtime win.
 
The game overall was a scrappy affair, as the Golden Hawks came into the Western rink with an extremely aggressive approach, though the Mustangs were able to match their intensity but thankfully not their penalty minutes.
 
Head coach Candice Moxley commented, "Laurier's up there in penalty minutes, so we were expecting a bit of that, and it was in our scouting report that it would be a clutch-and-grab kind of game. But if we keep moving our feet, then they're going to keep taking penalties, and that's exactly what happened tonight."
 
In the first period, it seemed that the Mustangs came out with a bit of a lackluster performance. Even though both teams were able to get a few offensive chances, Western took the first penalty of the night as Jenna MacLean sat for hooking. However, they killed off the penalty successfully by busying up the Golden Hawks in their own end. Halfway through the period, the Golden Hawks were rewarded for their strong start, as Emily Visser beat out a Western defender to make a pass to Chloe Davison, who received it across the crease and tucked it in past Mustangs netminder Tareya Webster.
 
However, in the final minute of the first, the Mustangs would even up the score as Sydnee Baker put it in the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
"We work on draws a lot in practice, mainly looking for girls who are open and we [usually] end up having to push it back to the point," said Baker. "That was mentally what I was planning on doing, but the lane was there so I took it, and I mean, it was fuzzy from there. I just pulled it to my backhand, saw the net, picked it, and put it in."
 
In the second frame, the Mustangs started off with a powerplay, as the Golden Hawks were penalized for having too many players on the ice. They were able to sustain some great offensive zone pressure, especially in front of the net, but weren't able to tuck way the errant pucks that came loose in front. Then, just before the halfway mark, the Golden Hawks were again whistled, this time for slashing. The Mustangs had some fantastic passing on offence, but weren't able to get many shots off as the Golden Hawks were blocking the shooting lanes.
 
With just under four minutes to go in the middle frame, the Golden Hawks pulled ahead by one goal, as Rebecca Hall took a shot from the point past a crowd of people that screened Mustangs goalie Webster.
 
On Webster's performance, Moxley commented, "She was great. We didn't help her out defensively, [the second] one I don't think she even saw coming, so I think she responded and made some great saves. There were a few odd man rushes we gave up there and she came up huge for us."
 
Webster would go on to make ten saves on ten shots to seal the deal for the Mustangs.  
 
With Laurier up by one heading into the third period, the Mustangs knew they had to up the intensity they had in the first two periods to win the game.
 
"This game we kind of walked into a bit confident," said Baker. "That's what you saw in the first and second period. In the third period, we kind of got it together, and we woke each other up, and told each other on the bench that every single thing we do, we cheer for. In the third period, you could see that we were cheering for everything, and it really got ourselves together and got the job done."
 
Indeed they did, as rookie forward Kira Memet evened up the score on the powerplay ten minutes in, picking up the loose puck off of the draw and deking around Laurier netminder Victoria Kelaiditis to put it into a wide open net.
 
The last half of the third period went by in a blur, as both teams were keen on ending the game without the extra frame. However, despite their efforts, the game went into overtime.
 
In OT, the Mustangs were able to hold possession for most of it, entering into the Golden Hawks' zone several times for an offensive chance before regrouping in the neutral zone and getting fresh legs on the ice.
 
Finally, two minutes in, the trio of Renae Nevills, Sydnee Baker, and April Clark managed to topple the Golden Hawks' defence to seal the deal. Clark made a great deke out front past Kelaiditis to score into an open net, before jumping into the arms of her teammates.
 
"I saw Nevills in the corner, who was doing a great job of battling, and I just picked up a loose puck and, honestly, it's just fuzzy from there," proclaimed Clark after the game.
 
The win over the Laurier Golden Hawks was especially sweet for some, as Laurier head coach Kelly Patton had previously coached the Western Mustangs team up until two years ago, and they were eager to show off the winning mentality of the Mustangs.
 
Clark, commenting on the aggressive play of the Golden Hawks, said, "It's always a big game between Laurier because [she] used to coach us here, so I think that's all they can do, because I think that we have a lot more talent on our team, so that's the only game they can play."
 
The Western Mustangs women's ice hockey team will finish off the rest of the calendar year on the road, as they face off against Waterloo, Windsor, and Brock, as well as Laurier in their final regular season matchup in January, before returning home on January 10^th to play Queen's. All away games can be streamed live on oua.tv, and tickets for home games can be purchased at westernmustangs.ca/tickets.