North Bay, ON – The Mustangs Men's Hockey team picked up a pair of wins from their trip to North Bay this weekend to take on Nipissing.
GAME 1
Starting on Friday night, Western picked up a 5-2 win over the Lakers, scoring three goals in the third period.
Nipissing would get the lone goal of the opening period just 2:13 into the game and take a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
In the second period, on the powerplay, Western would score just :37 seconds into the period when Eric Van Impe finished off some great puck movement in the Nipissing zone and even the game at 1-1.
Just over thirty seconds later, Owen Saye fed the outlet pass to Zach power in the neutral zone, he skated into the Lakers zone and left a drop pass between his legs to Jack York who hit a booming one-time slap shot past into the Nipissing net and gave Western a 2-1 lead.
Nipissing would respond with a pair of goals of their own later in the period and would take a 3-2 lead into the 2
nd intermission.
In the third period, Wester would even the game up 4:40 into the frame. After some extended time in the offensive zone, Van Impe would send the puck on net and Franco Sproviero would get the re-direct and make it 3-3.
Skip to later in the period, the Mustangs Jake Gravelle would showcase some great puck control in the Nipissing zone and then slide the puck to Shane Bulitka who had the one-touch re-direct and gave Western a 4-3 lead.
Less than twenty seconds later the Mustangs were back in the Nipissing zone, Sproviero sent a pass behind the Lakers net and Bruder skated beside the Nipissing net and roofed a sharp angle wrister to push the Mustangs lead to 5-3 which held up as the final score.
Matteo Drobac made 21 saves in the win for the Mustangs
GAME 2
On Saturday night the Mustangs looked to keep their late scoring from Friday night going.
Western drew first blood on the night when Andrew Bruder kept the puck in the Nipissing zone which went to Franco Sproviero who sent a cross-ice pass to Erin Van Impe who finished a beautiful triple deke that finished with a backhand touch that gave Western a 1-0 lead.
Skip to the second period, Nipissing scored 5:51 into the period to tie the game at 1-1.
Just over three minutes later, the Mustangs were on the penalty kill when Brett Willits picked off the puck in the defensive end and skated up the middle of the ice, sent a touch pass on the backhand to Lawson Sherk who sent the ball back to Willits who one-timed the puck to score a shorthanded goal and give Western a 2-1 lead.
In the third period Western would puck the game away, Jake Gravelle sent the puck into the corner of the Nipissing zone and Jacob Santerre gathered the puck, circled the faceoff circle and wristed the puck towards the net and Bruder tipped the puck past the Nipissing goaltender to give Western the 3-1 lead and the win.
The Mustangs are 5&1 on the regular season and sit 1
st in the OUA West early in the 2024-25 season.
Western returns to Thompson Arena this Friday night (Nov 1) when the Queen's Gaels come to town. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM. Fans can buy their tickets 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.
