London, ON- In their first home appearance of 2023, the Mustangs took on the York Lions. Mustangs had a strong offensive showing, with five different goal scorers, among them new addition Tye McSorley. Western goaltender Dylan Myskiw made 31 saves on the night to help the Mustangs to victory.
Western came out strong right off the start, getting themselves into the game and creating scoring opportunities. Just three and a half minutes into the first, Sproviero spotted Michael Boushy blowing out of the Mustangs end. Sproviero sent a long bank pass off the boards to send Boushy off, who was able to beat the York defenseman wide, walk in and slide the puck between the legs of York goalie Cole Ceci.
When asked about his goal, Boushy commented "It was needed, this was a big confidence booster for me. [Sproviero] made a nice chip and I was lucky enough to put it in."
Western continued to come on strong, looking to get another, but unable to get another past Ceci. The Mustangs outshot York 19-9 in the first period.
The second started off with an unlucky bounce for the Mustangs. Western goaltender Dylan Myskiw stepped behind the net and played the puck towards the boards, with the puck landing on York's CJ Clarke who quickly shot it into the Mustangs net to tie the game just two minutes in.
Eager to help their goaltender out and regain the lead, Mustangs went to work. Off an offensive zone faceoff just a minute later, Jack Tucker sent a pass to new addition Tye McSorley, who one-timed it into the net, notching his first OUA goal. His first as a Mustang allowed for Western to regain the lead. Mustangs were not done though.
When asked about his goal after, McSorley stated "It was one of the faceoff plays we run, and I got the puck and looked up and had a ton of space so I walked into it and took a slapshot. It just felt really good to finally get my first goal."
Just 20 seconds later, Brett Jacklin was able to capitalize off a strange bounce the puck took off the boards in the York end. Jacklin beat goaltender Ceci short side, securing a 2 goal lead for the Mustangs.
Western continued on the attack, creating more chances and looking for another goal. This was achieved 11 minutes into the second. Andrew Bruder tried to slide a pass over on a 2-on-1 and it deflected high off a diving York defenseman into the Lions net. This lucky bounce off the 2-on-1 to extended Mustangs lead to 3. Mustangs were able to battle out the rest of second and fend off the Lions, to head into the third period up 4-1.
The Mustangs came out firing again, but only 3 minutes into the third, Western's Jake Gravelle took a hooking penalty. Mustangs were able to kill off the penalty and turn the gears back to offense.
Eight and a half minutes into the third, York's Evanish took a boarding penalty to give the Mustangs their first powerplay of the game. Looking to capitalize on the man advantage, Western gained the offensive zone and set up. After a 1:50 of strong offensive pressure, the puck slipped out of the Lions zone. Sproviero regrouped, sliding it to Van Impe, who sent a bank pass to Sean Montgomery. With just a few seconds remaining in the Mustang's powerplay, Montgomery picked up the puck with speed in the Lions zone, walked in and snapped it top corner. Montgomery's 12th goal of the season gave the Mustangs a 4 goal lead.
Tye McSorley took a tripping penalty with just two and a half minutes left in the third, forcing the Mustangs to finish the game on the penalty kill. Just 20 seconds into the kill, Mustangs captain Kyle Pettit took a high sticking penalty to put the Mustangs down 5-on-3. The Lions pulled their goalie to make it a 6-on-3, and with 47 seconds left, York was able to capitalize on on the 3 man advantage. Western would finish out the rest of the game on the penalty kill but protect their 5-2 lead. Final shots were 37-33 in favor of Western.
Following the game, Assistant Coach Patrick Ouellet said "I really liked the first 6-7 minutes of the first period where we established our forecheck… that's how we're going to be successful, we're a fast team."
Although Western is not currently in a playoff spot, Boushy said "We are extremely positive in the room, we never doubt our group, and we believe in ourselves. We fought our last two games, and our mission going forward is to stay in the fight. We're going to try and continue the streak and keep looking ahead."
Western is back in action again tomorrow, for a home game against the Waterloo Warriors. This will be their second meeting, with Western winning their last matchup 8-4. Puck-drop is at 7pm at Thompson Arena.
