On Friday evening, The Laurier Golden Hawks travelled down the road in hopes of defeating their playoff rivals from a year ago, The Western Mustangs.
The Mustangs controlled the pace early on in this one as they hemmed the Golden Hawks into their own end and the Golden Hawks ended up taking an early penalty as a result.
Two minutes had elapsed and the Golden Hawks continued their streak and were 12 for 12 on the penalty kill so far this season.
With just under five minutes left in the first period, the Golden Hawks headed to the power play, as Western’s Andrew Goldberg earned himself a hooking penalty.
The Mustangs were also able to kill their penalty and this one was 0-0 at the first intermission.
The Mustangs came out strong, once again, to start the period, but Golden Hawks goaltender, Colin Furlong, was able to shut the door on two great saves to keep the Mustangs off the board.
“Furlong has been generally really consistent for us this year, it’s been good. Whenever we gave up turnovers, Western was able to generate some scoring chance and he’s been solid,” said head coach, Greg Puhalski.
Western’s Mitchell Fitzmorris was given a two-minute high sticking penalty at the 11-minute mark and the Golden Hawks were back on the power play and in search of this game’s first goal.
On a bit of a sloppier power play, both teams exchanged chances but the score was still 0-0 with nine minutes to play in the second frame.
With five minutes to play in the second period, Laurier’s captain, Kyle Morrison, was given a minor penalty for slashing and the Mustangs were back to the power play.
Only 30 seconds later, Mustangs forward, Rylan Bectehl was awarded two penalty minutes of his own and was ejected from this contest for hitting to the head.
Laurier had a handful of great chances later on, but the Mustangs turned them aside and the game remained scoreless heading into the second intermission.
The third period got underway and both of these teams were in search of the game’s first goal.
Only three minutes into the third period, the Western Mustangs were headed back to the box.
This time the Golden Hawks power play clicked and Danny Hanlon was able to bury a rebound just before the net was knocked off and the Golden Hawks were ahead 1-0.
Only a minute later and Western’s Spenser Cobbold was able to get the goal back, resulting in the Mustangs being able to even up the score at one a piece.
With just over 12 minutes left in the period, Western was able to get another goal and grab their first lead of the game, as Connor Chartier managed to find the back of the net for the Mustangs.
Laurier forward, Will Cook was given a 2-minute penalty on a soft slashing call, while he was pressuring the Mustangs’ defence as they tried to escape their own end.
Laurier was once again able to kill off another penalty.
With six minutes left in the game, Derek Shoenmakers looked to be on a break away but the play was whistled down, as the stretch pass through the air was offside by a matter of inches.
Just moments after the ensuing draw, Western goaltender, Greg Dodds made an incredible glove save as he flashed the leather and kept the Mustangs up by a goal.
With two minutes left, on a beautiful passing play, Morrison fired the puck on net, but Dodds was able to make the diving stop with his head.
With one minute left in the game, Laurier goalkeeper Colin Furlong made his way to the bench and the extra attacker jumped on for the Golden Hawks.
With 18 seconds left in the game, coach Puhalski called a timeout to rest the players for the final push to try and tie the game.
The extra attacker was not enough and the Western Mustangs skated away with a 2-1 victory at home, defeating the Golden Hawks once again.
“It wasn’t our best it wasn’t our worst. Our energy was good. We just turned the puck over too much but other then that it was a pretty good road game,” Puhalski said.
“Nobody likes losing so we just have to move on to the next game.”