Box Score In a game that saw both teams trade goals through 2 periods, the Mustangs dropped a 7-5 loss to Laurier on Saturday night in the back half of their final road trip of the regular season.
 
Just over 3 minutes into the game the Mustangs Ray Huether's shot snuck through the gear of Golden Hawks goaltender Tyler Fassi to take a 1-0 lead, the lone assist going to Alex DiCarlo.
 
Just 5 minutes later Laurier would respond when Michael Silveri picked up the puck in the slot and fired a shot over the shoulder on Luke Peressini to even the game a 1-1.
 
Western wasn't fazed though as Trevor Warnaar & Jonathan Laser setup Kyle Petit for a goal at 14:48 that would make it 2-1 Western.
 
The Golden Hawks had pressure in the final moments of the period, and it paid off when Mitch Wright was able to bang home a goal with just 9 seconds left on the clock to send both teams to the dressing room tied at 2.
 
The Mustangs would pick up the back and forth scoring in the 2^nd period. Spenser Cobbold tipped in a Matthew Watson shot from the blueline to regain the lead at 3-2.
 
Less than a minute later Laurier responded with a laser shot from inside the blue line off the stick of Alex Black, Peressini couldn't see the shot until it was behind him and it was 3-3.
 
Laurier would continue the offensive push to get their first lead of the night, at the 10:57 mark Ethan Wiseman's goal spelled the end of the night for Peressini as he was pulled in favour of David Ovsjannikov after the Hawks took a 4-3 lead.
 
With under 2 minutes to go in the 2^nd period the Mustangs would convert on the powerplay. Ray Huether sent a wrister from just outside the faceoff dot into the Laurier net for his 2^nd of the night and tie the game up at 4-4.  
 
After Zack Dybowski scored to make it 5-4 Laurier, they would benefit from a juicy rebound in front of the Mustangs net. Jeremy Pullara picked up the puck and was able to back hand it home to extend the Laurier lead to 6-4 just ahead of the mid-way point of the 3^rd period.
 
The Mustangs weren't giving up though, with 3 minutes left and on the penalty kill, Trent Ouellette would get the final touch on a short-handed goal to cut the game to a 6-5 Laurier lead.
 
The Mustangs would try to make a final push to even the game up yet again, but a Laurier empty net goal would put an end to that and take the 7-5 win and the season series over the Mustangs.
 
The shot total on the night was 39-35 in favour of Laurier. Peressini would be charged with 4 goals on 17 shots while Ovsjannikov would let in 2 goals on 21 shots in the Mustangs loss. Laurier's Tyler Fassi made 30 saves on the night for the victory.
 
Western moves to 14-11 on the season with the loss and sit 3^rd in the OUA West, Laurier move into 5^th spot at 12-13.
 
The Mustangs finish out the regular season schedule at home next weekend with a pair of games against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. The 1^st coming Friday, February 8^th at 7:00pm at Thompson Arena.