The Western Mustangs' men's hockey team dropped a 4 – 3 affair against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Wednesday evening at Thompson Arena.
Western forward Franco Sproviero opened up the scoring near the end of the first period, taking a slap pass from Ethan Szypula and firing off a wrister on the power play. Despite a very quick offence that was relentless in Western's own zone, the Varsity Blues were unable to respond in the first frame, letting the Mustangs take the lead going into the first intermission.
In the second period, Toronto took matters into their own hands and quickly took the lead over the Mustangs, potting two goals, scored by Kyle Potts and David Thomson, into the net past Western netminder David Ovsjannikov. The Mustangs responded accordingly, as Sean Montgomery was set up by Sproviero and Szypula on the power play, deflecting the puck past Varsity Blues goaltender Alex Bishop. However, they weren't able to hold off Varsity Blues forward Jared Leslie who scored later in the period, making it a 3 – 2 Varsity Blues game going into the final frame.
Toronto's game winning goal would come three minutes into the third period as Kyle Clarke tipped a shot from Colin Paradis from the blueline, tumbling down to the ice to seal the deal. Sproviero's second powerplay tally of the night at the seven-minute mark would give the Mustangs some momentum, but it ultimately wasn't enough to steal the game from the Varsity Blues.
The Mustangs now only have four remaining games in the regular season, three of which will be played at home. Tomorrow's game against the Guelph Gryphons will be a special treat, as many Mustangs head back to a familiar barn from their days in the Ontario Hockey League, the Budweiser Gardens. Tickets for Faceoff at the Forks are still available at
https://www.budweisergardens.com/events/detail/faceoff-at-the-forks .
