Box Score The Western Mustangs' women's ice hockey team will finish off the calendar year with a loss on the road against the Brock Badgers, dropping this one 4-2 in St. Catharines.
 
In the first frame, it was evident that the game was going to by physical. The players set the tone early, and the referees had a loose grip on their whistles. Western's Jenna MacLean was called for a head contact double minor midway through, which Brock was able to convert on not once, but twice, as forwards Annie Berg and Emma Irwin put the Badgers up by two. MacLean would come back to bring the Mustangs within one, however, as she would score her first career OUA goal on the powerplay against Badgers goaltender Jensen Murphy.
 
The first period wouldn't stop there, though, as Brock would pile on for another goal, with Cassidy Maplethrope potting one past Western netminder Carmen Lasis to take the lead 3-1 going into the first intermission.
 
In the second period, both teams battled it out hard. It was a fairly even matchup for the duration of the game between the two teams, both of them matching in skill and physicality which reflected in the standings going in as Western and Brock sat at 8^th and 9^th respectively in the OUA.
 
With six minutes left in the middle frame, Western would gain some momentum as sophomore forward Emma Suitor would tuck on in past Jensen to bring the Mustangs within one yet again.
 
In the final frame, Western had a great opportunity to tie the game up as the Badgers' Mishayla Christensen sat for two minutes for body checking, but the Mustangs were unable to convert despite having done so earlier in the game. Minutes later, the referees would put Mustangs forward Sydnee Baker in the box for goaltender interference, which was able to be killed off by the Western penalty kill units but lost the team some valuable time in the offensive zone that they desperately needed.
 
The Brock Badgers sealed the deal with under a minute left, as Maplethorpe scored her second of the game on an empty net goal, thwarting any semblance of a comeback for the Mustangs.
 
Note: The Mustangs send their best to Western forward Sydnee Baker, who was helped off of the ice midway through the third period due to what appeared to be a head injury.
 
The Western Mustangs have finished up their games for the calendar year, and currently sit at 9^th place in the OUA standings midway through the season. Their next game will be played on the road in Waterloo against the Laurier Golden Hawks on January 4^th at 2:30PM. The game can be streamed at oua.tv.