London, ON- Mustangs faced off against Brock in their fourth home game in a row, but fell short 5-2. Western played the tough Brock Badger's hard, but weren't able to pull out a win in a tough battle of the special teams. Western goaltender Jack McNaughton performed well again tonight, stopping 40 of the 44 shots he faced, but Western was unable to pull out a win.
Brock came out strong, playing the Mustangs tough right off the bat and generating lots of chances. The Badgers were first to earn a powerplay only two and a half minutes into the game, due to a roughing penalty given to Tye McSorley. Giving them a man advantage over Western early, Brock was able to capitalize just 30 seconds later to be first on the board.
Brock controlled a lot of the play in the first, but goaltender McNaughton was able to hold them at 1 even with the Badgers outshooting the Mustangs 14-7.
The second period brought lots of scoring and special team excitement. Just two minutes into the second, Brock came down on the Mustangs and Badgers forward Adam Berg was able to net Brock's second of the game, to put them up 2-0.
Just under halfway through the second, Brock took a two many men penalty to give Western a man advantage. On the powerplay, Western was able to set up in the offensive end, with defenseman Jack Tucker moving it to Morison on the wall. Morison slid out into the high slot drawing defense in, then slid it back to an open Andrew Bruder for a one timer. Bruder beat Badger goalie Roman Basran, giving Western their first of the game.
The momentum Western was able to gain off of Bruder's goal was short lived. 11 minutes in, Jake Gravelle took a hooking penalty to give Brock their fourth powerplay of the game. Badger's Adam Berg was able to get his second of the period on the powerplay to put Brock up 3-1. The Badger's were not done yet either. With just two minutes remaining, Western's Jacklin took a slashing penalty to put Western down a man for the rest of the second. Brock's Jacob Roach capitalized on the Mustangs being on the penalty kill and scored with just 18 seconds remaining to make it 4-1 going into the third.
The third began with Western hungry to get on the board again. Just five minutes into the third, Sean Montgomery was able to deliver a Western goal to put them on the board again. Montgomery's 14th of the year brought the game within 2, making it 4-2 Brock.
Despite four Western powerplays and two Brock powerplays in the third, neither team was able to take advantage of these chances, with Western still down 2 and the minutes counting down.
Western pulled goaltender McNaughton with a few minutes to go in a last attempt to tie it. Instead, Brock was able to notch one more on an empty net in the final seconds to take it 5-2. Final shots were 45-27 in favour of Western.
Next Thursday the 26th, Western will face off against the Laurier Golden Hawks for a morning game in Waterloo. This will be their second matchup of the year. The game is at 11am and can be watched on OUA.tv.
