WATERLOO, ON - Western picked up a huge win on Tuesday afternoon, walking away from the rescheduled game against Laurier with a 5-2 win.

Heading into their second-last road game of the regular season, the Mustangs were fighting hard to earn their spot in the playoffs. 

Both teams had some excellent shots on goal in the opening minutes of the period, but Mustangs Goalie Dylan Myskiw and the Mustangs were able to overpower the Golden Hawks and thanks to an early goal from Andrew Bruder Western went up 1-0 with 16:50 remaining. 

The Mustangs were playing aggressively, fighting hard to steal the puck and pass efficiently across the ice. Laurier had several great scoring attempts throughout the period, but were unable to get pack Myskiw.

At the top of the second period, the Mustangs still had the only score on the board. 

Western was on the power play at the start of the period following a double minor penalty in the final minute of the third. 

The Mustangs made several strong shots against the Golden Hawks, but were unable to score as Laurier killed the penalty. 

With just under 13 minutes remaining in the second period, Laurier fired off several shots and managed to put one of them in the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1. 

Laurier then proceeded to have their first power play of the game following a Mustang penalty, and despite being down a man, Western held the Golden Hawks out and denied them a power play goal. 

With 2:32 minutes remaining in the period, the 'Stangs fought through traffic in the Laurier zone and scored the third goal of the game bringing them back into the lead at 2-1. 

As the third and final period began, the Mustangs were absolutely dominant, scoring their first of three goals in the third 10 seconds into play. 

After the Golden Hawks put up a tough fight, a turnover in the Mustang's zone resulted in a 2 on 1 attack from Western and they were successful for their fourth goal of the game, as they went up 4-1. 

The Golden Hawks were starting to get clearly frustrated, and following a scramble in front of the Mustang's net, a penalty was called against the Mustangs, giving Laurier another penalty. 

This time however, Laurier was able to capitalize off the penalty, and with one minute remaining with the advantage, the Golden Hawks scored their second goal of the game bringing the score to 4-2. 

Just as it began to seem like the Golden Hawks could potentially work their way back in the final minutes, the Mustangs sealed the deal with their fifth goal of the night and extending their lead to 5-2. 

With this victory against Laurier, Western punched their ticket to the 2023 OUA Playoffs. They will face off against Laurier again on Thursday night (Feb 09) in Waterloo once again, at 7 pm. Fans can watch live at OUA.tv.