The Western Mustangs' women's hockey team put up quite the effort on Saturday afternoon in a battle against the Nippissing Lakers at Thompson Arena, but ultimately were unable to find the back of the net for the win.
 
Coming off of a loss against the Laurentian Voyageurs the night before, the Mustangs seem undeterred, and were quick to match the blistering pace set by the Lakers.
 
The first frame saw the Mustangs and Lakers taking turns putting pressure on offence. Halfway through, Western was put on a 5-on-3 player advantage as Lakers skaters Malory Dominico and Stacey Henshaw sat for hooking and delay of game, respectively. The Mustangs were unable to convert, however, and ended up on the penalty kill themselves as Renae Nevills took two for cross checking. Rounding off the first was Nipissing's offence, which was extremely aggressive on the forecheck, preventing the Mustangs from clearing their zone.
 
In the second period, the Mustangs immediately were tasked with killing off a body-checking penalty taken by Emma Thomas. They were able to eat up a lot of time in the neutral zone, and even put some offensive pressure on. This propelled the 'Stangs' momentum, as they began to take the lead offensively, driving to the net and creating fantastic scoring chances. Western netminder Carmen Lasis ended off the period by making an incredible back-door save, and she would do the same thing to open up the third frame. The Mustangs had two powerplay opportunities in the third period to take the lead, but were unable to finish any chances, and as the clock ticked down, both teams seemed happy to settle for a little bit of free hockey.
 
Overtime saw the Western squad absolutely dominate offensively, as they maintained possession of the puck for almost the entirety of the extra frame. They were also given a power-play to boost their offence as Maria Dominico sat for head contact, but a shootout was ultimately needed to decide the game.
 
The shoot-out was an impressive battle of the goalies – Western's Carmen Lasis on one end, and Nipissing's Chantelle Sandquist on the other. After eleven rounds, in which Western head coach Candice Moxley tapped Sydney Baker, April Clark, Rachel Armstrong, Emma Suitor, Kira Memet, and Sam Wood for the task, the game was ended by Lakers forward Ashley Taciuk's goal.
 
Moxley, though not pleased at the outcome of the game, was satisfied by her team's overall effort.
 
"I thought we battled. It was back and forth and both teams had their chances. Carmen made two unbelievable saves for us to keep us in the game as well. We had every opportunity to win this game today, and that's what you hope for when you go into these games against some tough competition. But again, we're having some trouble finding the back of the net. It was unfortunate, the outcome, but I was still pretty happy with how our team played today."
 
On choosing skaters for the shootout, Moxley commented, "You have your top three, but after five you can reuse. We do practice shootouts the day before every game, and if you score, you're out so you can get a picture of who your top shooters are in those situations. We just couldn't find the back of the net today."
 
The Mustangs have six regular season games left as they make a push to stay in the playoff race. Their next game will be away against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, January 31^st at 7PM. Catch the game on oua.tv.