LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs gave up their ticket to the Queen's Cup after falling 4-3 to the Guelph Gryphons in double overtime Sunday night at Thompson Arena.  
 
Guelph had all the momentum coming into this do-or-die match after crushing Western 6-1 last night in game two. It would be the final game of the series for the OUA West conference competitors - whichever team came out on top would punch their ticket to the Queen's Cup OUA final in Kingston. The losing team would play for a bronze medal and a last chance to make it to nationals.
 
"It was a good game. It was obviously a whole lot better than last night," commented Mustangs' head coach Clarke Singer. "We talked about having to respond here in our building in game three, and I thought we had a great game." 
 
Offence for the Gryphons was provided by Scott Simmonds and Jesse Saban, with two for Mikkel Aagaard, one of which was the game winning goal. Cordell James, Rylan Bechtel, and Stephen Desrocher were the goal scorers for Western. 
 
The teams were ready to go from the first faceoff, each generating tons of offensive opportunities. However, as the period wore on, the Mustangs lost a little bit of steam, giving up 14 shots. 
 
In the dying minutes of the period, a scramble in front of Mustangs' goalie Luke Peressini would lead to the first goal of the game at 16:21. The goaltender was down on his back, unable to see the puck get scooped out from under him by Guelph forward Simmonds. 
 
The first man advantage of the game came one minute into the second frame, giving Western an opportunity to even out the scoreboard. 
 
Working the puck around, forward Spenser Cobbold fed a pass to Bechtel, whose shot from the point found its way through traffic and into the net behind Guelph goaltender Andrew Masters. 
 
But, merely tying it up wasn't good enough for Western. Just two minutes later, a pass from Kyle Langdon found its way to James, who demonstrated some nifty back-and-forth puck work, faking out Masters and finding the back of the net. 
 
Western spent the first few minutes of the third period killing a penalty, which they executed successfully. However, just 10 seconds after the penalty ended, Saban got a point shot through traffic and behind Peressini. 
 
Guelph used this momentum and scored another goal just 20 seconds later when Aagaard deflected a shot in front of the net and Peressini couldn't make the save. This goal lifted the Gryphons over Western by one with 17 minutes to play. 
 
With one minute and 40 seconds to play in the game, Desrocher saved the day. He scooped up the puck after a scramble in front and netted the puck on Masters, tying up the score and sending the game into overtime. 

"At that point in the game, you're just trying to join as a defenceman, you're just trying to get up there, and I was lucky enough that the puck popped right to my stick," said Desrocher. "And honestly I wasn't even aiming, I was just trying to put it towards the net and got fortunate enough to put it in. At that time in the game, you got to do everything you can to try and score, and I just made sure I got up in the rush and gave myself a chance to be there." 

The teams were set to play 20 minutes of sudden death overtime to break the 3-3 tie.

Western took a penalty for too many men with 12 minutes left in the first overtime period, but sustained enough pressure on Guelph to successfully kill off the two minutes.  
 
After 80 minutes of play, neither team could crack the other's goaltender, sending the game into a second overtime. 
 
"There was still energy. It's definitely tough mentally and physically, but the guys still were working every shift and bringing it and playing with heart. At that point you lose your legs, but if you got heart you'll continue to play," said Desrocher.
 
With five minutes left in the second overtime period, Aagaard scooped up the puck in the high slot and placed it below Peressini's blocker to snag a 4-3 win for the Gryphons.

"Anytime you get to an overtime, let alone a double overtime, there is usually a bounce or a break that wins the game," said Singer. "I thought we had our fair of chances, especially in the second overtime. That winning goal, that puck just kind of bounced and trickled through our line of defence in front of the net to a guy kind of rolling out of the corner, and it was just a fortuitous bounce for them, and obviously he's a pretty good player and a nice shot. But, a tremendous effort by Guelph and our guys. I thought they did everything we asked of them tonight."

This marked the end of the game and the end of Western's ticket to the Queen's Cup, but the Mustangs will still have a chance at nationals if they come out on top over Carleton in the bronze medal game this weekend.
 
"It's definitely gonna suck for a few days, but we've got to get back to it at practice, and we've got to go out to Ottawa and play against Carleton, and we still have a chance to go there," said Desrocher. "So we can turn it into a positive and get to nationals and anything can happen there. So it's good that we still have a chance to play for a trophy."
 
The Mustangs will head to Ottawa to play Carleton for the bronze medal this weekend; stay tuned for scheduling details on westernmustangs.ca. Fans will be able to catch all the action live, at OUA.tv.