London, ON – The Mustangs Men's Hockey team picked up a 4-0 shutout win over the Waterloo Warriors Saturday night on the back of a standout night from Christian Aiello.
Western's forward scored three of the Mustangs four goals on the night and added an assist on the other goal.
"I got a couple of lucky bounces tonight, some guys made some good plays, and they went in tonight," said Aiello "It's my dad's birthday, so I had to put up three,"
The Mustangs felt like they were all over the Warriors most of the night, firing 37 shots on the Waterloo net while Jack McNaughton picked up the shutout making 22 saves.
"It feels pretty good, I think everyone is pretty happy and played well tonight, especially because we didn't get a win against these guys the last time we played them," said McNaughton.
GAME RECAP
The Mustangs had the vast majority of the chances in the opening period, outshooting Waterloo 17-6, but the first highlight of the night came when three Waterloo forwards converged in the Western net and sent a shot on net and McNaughton would make a scorpion style kick at the puck and make the save.
"Honestly I don't even know what happened, I just over-committed, and I think he passed it across the defenceman's stick and I just got lucky with my foot," said McNaughton "I was definitely swimming there,"
Western opened the scoring with just under four minutes left in the 1st period when Franco Sproviero entered the zone, made a drop pass to Aiello, who fired a powerful wrister that beat Waterloos goalie to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead.
With under a minute to go in the 2
nd period, Aiello would strike again. Andrew Bruder would send a puck towards the net and Aiello got a piece of the puck and it squeaked into the Waterloo net and Western was up 2-0.
Twenty seven seconds later Aiello would cap off the hat trick, Eric Van Impe held the puck behind the Waterloo net and flipped a pass into the slot where Aiello one-timed the puck for his third of the night.
"He's starting to become dominant in our league; it's not just the points, although they definitely came tonight, he's a very complete player," said Mustangs Head Coach Clarke Singer of Aiello "At our level there aren't many three-goal nights, you don't see many of those and it was a special night for him,"
Western would add another goal in the 3
rd period, just after a 5 on 3 powerplay expired the Mustangs had a flurry of opportunities around the Waterloo net and Shane Bulitka would get the final tip on the puck with a backhand and Western took a 4-0 lead.
"After the game in Toronto, a tough loss there, it was a good response by our guys tonight who I thought played a pretty complete game and Jack (McNaughton) was outstanding," said Singer.
NEXT GAME
The Mustangs are on the road for the next two games, starting next Saturday (Nov 16) when they take on the Concordia. The trip to Montreal is one of the longest of the season, to play the 11&1 Stingers. Puck drop is set for 2:00 pm, and fans can watch the action on OUA.tv.
