London, ON – The Mustangs tied it up late in the 3rd period but drop a 4-2 loss to the Brock Badgers on Saturday night.
The Badgers opened the scoring 37 seconds into the game and followed that up with another goal at 2:57 to take a 2-0 lead and would hold it through the 1st intermission. The Mustangs were outshot 23-8 in the 1st period.
"Their first goal they interfered with one of our guys and then tripped another so there wasn't a whole lot we could do there, it was a good shot by them," said Mustangs Head Coach Clarke Singer, "I think we responded pretty well after that and kept a lot of their shots to the outside and there was a lot of positives out there but just a tough finish."
The Mustangs would crack the scoreboard in the 2nd period on the powerplay. Stephen Desrocher sent a slap shot on net and Kolten Olynek picked up the rebound and punched it in to cut the Badgers lead to 2-1.
"I'm just kind of in that area to sort of lurk in weeds for rebounds and I saw (Stephen) Desrocher and (Rylan) Bechtel switch sides and they fire the one-timer, I just know to get in front of the net and try to put it home," said Olynek
Later in the 3rd period, the Mustangs would even up the game. After some sustained pressure in the offensive zone, the puck found its way to captain Rylan Bechtel who sent a thundering slapshot into the Brock goal to tie things up at 2-2.
"I saw (Austin) Osmanski jump up in the rush and no one was backchecking so I jump in there with him and yelled for the puck and leaned into it," said Bechtel "Usually I just try to get a quick release off there but I had so much time I figured I would lean into it a little more."
With time winding down, the Badgers pushed the pressure into the Mustangs zone and scored on a shot that Mustangs goaltender Luke Peresinni was screened on to take a 3-2 lead.
"There wasn't much Luke could do on any of those goals tonight," said Singer, "I think he responded really well tonight especially after being down two goals early and he gave us a good chance to win tonight."
Brock would add an empty-net goal to take a 4-2 win.
The Mustangs are on the road next weekend for a pair of games against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
"We get up for this trip, they have some good crowds up there for their games and they're passionate and it's fun to play in," said Olynek "Lakehead always plays us tough, they play a physical style of game and we just have to match their physicality and intensity."
The first game is Friday at 7:00 pm, fans can watch the game on OUA.tv.
