London, ON- Mustangs played the tough Brock Badger's hard, but weren't able to pull out a win in a tight game that was decided in overtime.
The Mustangs had good intensity and came into this game ready to face Brock, after suffering a 4-0 loss on Saturday night to the Badgers. In the first, Western came out firing, getting 20 shots and generating lots of chances on Brock's strong goaltender Peccia.
8 minutes into the first period, Brock defenceman took a tripping penalty to stop a near breakaway, giving Western their first powerplay of the game. After gaining control in the offensive end, defenceman Jack Tucker got a cross ice pass from Shane Bulitka. Tucker took a shot on net in front of lots of traffic, and it found its way into the back of the net to put Western up 1-0 at 8:52 on the powerplay. This is Tucker's second of the year in just three games as a defenceman.
The second period saw lots of special teams action, and a momentum shift with Western taking four out of the five penalties this period. Brock came on strong, testing Mustang's Myskiw with 21 shots this period.
Just over halfway into the second period, both Western's Macrae and Van Impe were given penalties, giving Brock a full two minute 5-on-3 at 13:47. Brock was able to capitalize on the 2-man advantage to tie it 1-1.
The third period brought more odd-man advantages for both sides, with Western's goaltender Myskiw making some clutch saves early in the third to keep the 1-1 tie.
Brock defenceman Schaefer got sent to the box for tripping, putting Western on the powerplay for the fourth time this game. The power play unit got the puck back to defenceman Jack Sander who slid it over his partner Jack York for a one timer that beat Brock's goalie high. This gave the Mustang's the lead with seven minutes left in the third.
Jack, who got his second of the year, mentioned "My partner Sandy got it, gave me a nice pass, so give the credit to Sandy on the setup there."
Mustang's were able to fight off the Badger's scoring attempts until late in the third when Gravelle was sent to the box putting the Mustang's down a player. Brock called a time out to give their players a rest and not long after, Badger's scored to tie it up at 2-2 with 2 minutes to go. After a tough fought out 2 minutes, the score remained forcing the game to go to overtime.
After early back and forth play, Mustangs players got caught in their own end and Brock was able to take advantage and score, 2:56 into overtime. The overtime proved to be similar to the rest of the game, a battle of the goalies. With final shots ending up 49-44 in favour of Brock.
After the game, assistant coach Patrick Ouellet voiced "I thought we had a really good start, good puck management and placement, as the game went on we got away from the game plan a little bit."
Jack York also exclaimed "I think we did a great job all game, just slipped away at the end there. We're going to come back hard this weekend."
Western hits the road on Friday to face Waterloo for the first time this season. Puck-drop is at 7pm and can be watched on OUA.tv.
