London, ON – The Mustangs picked up a 5-4 shootout win over the Brock Badgers in their 2024 home opener on Thursday night.
"I was glad we found a way to win this one tonight, I thought we had to work for this one and it was a little tougher for us," said Mustangs Head Coach Clarke Singer "It was definitely back and forth all night against a good team is a real good sign for us,"
GAME RECAP
The game got off to a quick start when the Badgers scored just 23 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
The Mustangs would respond 31 seconds later when Franco Sproviero sent the puck into the slot to Jacob Santerre who sent a wrister to the top corner of the Brock net to tie the game up at 1-1.
Western would take the lead later in the 1
st period when Tye McSorley skated the puck into the Brock zone and dropped the puck to Lawson Sherk who one-timed it past Brock Goaltender Will Hambley to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.
Just before the end of the period, on the man advantage Western would convert on the powerplay, Christiano Aiello sent a cross ice pass to Zach Power who sent the one-timer in and gave Western a 3-1 lead through the 1
st period.
"It was a great pass from the bumper over to me and I had an open net," said Power of the opening goal "I just kind of found myself there and glad I buried it,"
Brock would even things up in the second period with a pair of goals and it was 3-3 through 40 minutes of play.
Western would regain the advantage again in the first half of the third period when Owen Saye found himself behind the Badgers net and quickly moved to the right side of the net and wrapped it in to take a 4-3 lead.
Just a minute later Brock would tie things up and it would remain 4-4 through regulation.
Neither side would score in overtime so the game was pushed to a shootout.
In the shootout, Brock's Ethan Sims would score the opening attempt, and then Zach Power would convert on the Mustangs opening attempt to even up.
After Brock's Ryan Steplien missed on the Badgers second shootout, Western's Christiano Aiello scored for the Mustangs to force Brock to score to extend the shootout and Zack Stringer would miss and Western would take the 5-4 lead.
"There's lots of opportunities on our team this year and I think it's a real strength for us and it showed tonight," said Power "I really like our depth, you can go up and down the lineup and put anyone out there in those situations,"
With the win Western moves to 2-1 on the early season. Mustangs Goaltender Jack McNaughton took the win, making 36 saves.
KEY STATS
GOALS: Jacob Santerre (1), Lawson Sherk (2), Zach Power (1), Owen Saye (1)
ASSISTS: Franco Sproviero, Andrew Bruder, Tye McSorley, Jake Gravelle, Christiano Aiello
NEXT GAME
As the Mustangs head into reading week, they now have a nine-day break between games, hosting the Toronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 19 for a 3:00pm start. Tickets are on sale now at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets. A reminder that Western students get free admission to all regular season games by presenting their Western ONECard at the box office.
