Guelph, ON – The Mustangs had one of their biggest offensive flurries of the season in a __-__ win over the Guelph Gryphons on Thursday night on the road.
The Gryphons opened the scoring in this one, just ahead of the 15-minute mark of the 1
st period but the Mustangs would respond shortly after. Western's Brett Willits forced a turnover in the Guelph corner and Owen Saye sent the put into the slot to Zach Power who stickhandled the puck around the Gryphons goaltender and slid the puck in to tie the game at 1-1.
In the 2
nd period, the Gryphons would again open the scoring in the frame but once again the Mustangs would respond quickly. After a high shot from the blueline went off the back wall in Guelph's end, Willits swung at the midair puck which slid into the blue paint and Power poked it into even things up again.
Later in the period, the Mustangs would go on one of their biggest scoring sprees of the season which would see them net five goals through the remainder of the period.
It started with Power feeding Owen Saye would toe drag from forehand to backhand and into the net at 15:12 of the 2
nd to give Western a 3-2 lead.
Just 20 seconds later, Jacob Santerre fed the puck from the Guelph corner out to Shane Bulitka near the faceoff dot who the fed the puck cross-ice to Jake Gravelle in the slot who didn't miss with a quick wrister and moved Western to a 4-2 lead.
Just over a minute later the Mustangs would gain the offensive zone, Christiano Aiello slowed up along the wing board, sent a saucer pass across to Willits who would convert from distance and give the Mustangs a 5-2 lead.
With just over a minute remaining in the period, Western's Bulitka took a feed from Noah Danielson in the slot and buried it to go up 6-2 through 40 minutes.
The Mustangs would add another in the 3
rd period as Andrew Bruder skated the puck into the Guelph zone and sent a hard wrister on the Gryphons goal and the puck found it's way through to push Western to a 7-2 lead.
Western added a pair of empty net goals from Bulitka & Gravelle while Guelph would try and mount a late charge of their own with 3 goals in the 3
rd period to pull to 9-5.
The Mustangs will finish out their 2023-24 schedule tomorrow night (Friday, Feb 9) when they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors. Puck drop is set for 7:00PM, Fans can watch the action on OUA.tv.
