London, ON- Mustangs took on the York Lions and came out with a 6-3 win at home. Mustangs saw big performances from defenseman Van Impe with three assists, and forwards Montgomery and Browne with a goal and an assist.
The first frame saw lots of action, with a strong start and lots of pressure from the Mustangs. Six and half minutes into the first, first-year defenceman Eric Van Impe shot it from the point and it was tipped in by Sean Montgomery, for his fifth of the year.
The Mustangs kept pushing for more, and just two minutes later found success on the powerplay. Forward Ethan Browne took the puck around the outside of the zone and as he dropped to the corner slid it to the captain Kyle Pettit in the high to put it in. Pettit's second of the year on the powerplay put the Mustangs up 2-0.
When asked his goal, Pettit said "It was right off the draw, Browne came up top with the puck and carried it around, I tried to find open space and he found me. I just tried to get it on net and luckily found the back of the net."
With five and a half minutes left in the first period, Brett Jacklin took a 4 minute penalty to put Western on the kill. With a minute and a half left in York's first powerplay, western went down 5-on-3. Western's PK unit held strong and Mustangs went into the break up 2-0.
The second period brought even more action. Five minutes into the second, Jack Tucker scored his second of the year from a pass by Shane Bulitka on the powerplay.
Five minutes later at 10:52, Mathew MacDougall slid it to Ethan Browne in the high slot, who snapped it past York's goaltender for the Mustang's fourth of the game.
At 11:57 Michael Boushy took a slashing penalty putting the Lions on the powerplay. York was able to capitalize on the man advantage making it 4-1 twelve minutes into the second. Just 40 seconds later, Jake Gravelle passed it across the high slot for a tap in by Franco Sproviero at the far post, to regain the 4 goal lead. Mustangs finished out the second up 5-1.
The third saw lots of back and forth special teams play, with no team able to score with an extra attacker until 11 minutes in, York's Georgiev was able to score on the powerplay, bring the Mustangs lead down to 3.
The final two minutes had lots of excitement, with Mustang's Morison getting a stretch pass from Jake Gravelle to go in on the goalie and score. Back the other way just 40 seconds later, York was able to get one back, making it a 6-3 win for the Mustangs. Final shots were 49-28 in favor of the Mustangs.
A goal and assist for forward Sean Montgomery tonight. He noted "This was a big one, we needed this one. Right through the lineup everyone pitched in, it was a good effort all around."
"I thought this game was our best effort of the year," Head Coach Clarke Singer said about the win."I thought we did a really good job of controlling the offensive zone."
Western will head to Toronto next Friday to face the Varsity Blues for the second time this season. Puck-drop is at 7 pm, catch the action on OUA TV.
