Waterloo, ON – The Mustangs got their first win of the 2022-23 season on Friday night in a high-scoring 8-4 win over Waterloo.
The Mustangs opened the scoring in the latter half of the opening period when Shane Bulitka fed Jack York with a cross ice pass and York toe dragged the puck and slide it into the net for the lone goal of the 1
st period to take a 1-0 lead.
The start of the second period was fast and furious for the scorekeepers as Western would get three goals in the first 2:06 of the period. It started with Sean Montgomery taking a short side shot that found a gap in the Waterloo netminder to take the 2-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Riley MacRae would get the puck in between the faceoff dots and fired it home to extend the Mustangs lead to 3-0.
If you blinked you may have missed the next goal as just 14 seconds later Jake Gravelle would throw the puck on net and Josh Leblanc was on the door step to knock the rebound in and it was 4-0 Western.
Waterloo would get a pair of goals of their own in quick succession, but the Mustangs weren't done. Jake Gravelle stopped the puck at the Waterloo blueline and fired a seeing-eye shot on net and it got through to regain a three-goal lead at 5-2.
Waterloo would score late in the 2
nd period but after the Warriors got themselves in penalty trouble the Mustangs would convert on the powerplay. Franco Sproviero sent the puck on net, Shane Bulitka went for the tip which resulted in a rebound right in the goal crease and Montgomery would jump on it and net his 2
nd of the night to make it a 6-3 Mustangs lead.
The Warriors would get another goal to cut the Western lead but once again Western wasn't allowing Waterloo to get the momentum and scored two more goals, both of the highlight reel variety. The first came when Andrew Bruder redirected an Eric Van Impe shot from the blueline in.
The final goal of the night came off of an outlet pass that Jack York sent from beside his own net to Sproviero at the opposite blue line, he would make no mistake with a dazzling deke that fooled the Waterloo goaltender and finished off the scoring spree and got the Mustangs their first regulation win of the year.
Mustangs Goaltender Jack McNaughton picks up the win in his OUA debut, making 25 saves on the night.
The Mustangs have a quick turnaround as they are back in action on Saturday night, this time on home ice as they host the Toronto Varsity Blues. Puck drop is set for 7:00pm and tickets are on sale now at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets and fans can watch the action on OUA.tv.
