London, ON – The Mustangs dropped a 5-1 decision to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday night as they also celebrated the careers of three graduating members of the team.
"I thought we had a bit of a slow start which seems to be a bit of a trend for us but I thought it was a pretty good effort overall", said Mustangs Head Coach Clarke Singer "We outshot them by a good margin, I think we out (scoring) chanced them by a few but we are just having trouble scoring 5 on 5 which has been a challenge in the second half (of the season) for us".
The Golden Hawks took advantage of a pair of special teams opportunities in the first period with a powerplay goal in the first half of the period and a shorthanded goal near the end of the first.
Laurier would continue to put the offensive pressure on in the second period, again adding two more goals to extend the lead to 4-0 at the 12:06 mark of the second frame.
Western would crack the scoreboard later in the second on the man advantage. After Rylan Bechtel's stick broke on the play, the puck then slid right to Kolten Olynek who buried his ninth goal of the season to cut the lead to 4-1.
"When we run that play I am usually expecting a rebound there, but when Bech's (Rylan Bechtel) broke his stick, it came right to me and I just tipped it in," said Olynek.
The Mustangs would put a full-force effort on in the third period, outshooting the Golden Hawks 21-7 but couldn't find the back of the Laurier net.
Before the game, the Western coaching staff recognized forward Mitchell Fitzmorris, goaltender Luke Peressini & Captain Rylan Bechtel for their contributions to the program and presented them with their team jersey along with a framed photo of them in action.
"You almost get to know them like they are your kids". said Singer "Luke (Peressini), Rylan (Bechtel) and Fitzy (Mitchell Fitzmorris) have been great in their time here and it's going to be tough losing those guys but the program is better after having them here with us and we hope to find some magic coming up in the playoffs for them".
The recognition meant a lot to the graduating seniors.
"I think there was about eight of us that came onto the team my first year and I'm really happy to stand next to those two guys as we finish out our careers." said Fitzmorris "Everyone has been so great the entire way through including the coaches, assistants, trainers and players throughout, it's been an incredible experience and I am hoping we can make it last a little longer here in the playoffs."
Western has one game left on the regular season as they travel to St. Catharine's tomorrow evening to take on the Brock Badgers. Brock sits two points ahead of the Mustangs in the West standings in the OUA and there are major playoff implications on the line.
"We've been better on the road compared to our home record this year so if we can finish off on the road with a strong effort and get those two points we will see what happens in the race here," said Olynek "We know we can catch Brock in the standing with a win tomorrow, but we need to get off to a way better starts to the game than we have with playoffs coming up."
The game against Brock is set for a 7:15 pm puck drop and fans can catch all the action on OUA.tv.
