The Western Mustang men’s hockey team won their first game at Thompson Arena in over eight and a half months as they defeated the visiting York Lions by a score of 6-3 on Friday night.

Six different Mustangs dented the twine.  Sean Montgomery started things off about six and a half minutes into the first period, tipping in a shot from the blue line by first year defenceman Eric Van Impe for his 5th goal of the season.  Captain Kyle Pettit followed that up with a power play goal less than 2 minutes later.  The first period ended with Western up 2-0, outplaying the Lions and outshooting them 17-9.

Western upped their lead to 4-0 by the 11-minute mark of the second period on goals from defenceman Jack Tucker on the power play, and centre Ethan Browne with his first ever goal in a Mustang uniform.  After the Lions scored their first goal of the game, which came on the power play, Western made it 5-1 just 37 seconds later on a goal by last year’s team MVP, Franco Sproviero.  The Mustangs outshot the Lions 17-11 in the second period.

York would score two goals in the third period, one on the power play and one with just over a minute to go.  Sandwiched in between these two goals was the Mustang’s sixth and final goal, scored by Reed Morison.  Western ended up with 49 shots on goal, a season high, while allowing 28 shots.  The Mustangs were 2 for 8 on the power play, while York was 2 for 6.  Both Montgomery and Browne had one assist each for a two-point night, defenceman Jake Gravelle had two assists, while Van Impe had a three-point night with three assists.

“From my perspective, best effort of the year in terms of the stuff we had to do to be a good team,” said head coach Clarke Singer after the game.  “A lot of sacrifice, a lot of unselfish plays by guys.  I thought we did a real good job of controlling the offensive zone.”

Game Notes

• Eric Van Impe is the son of former NHL player Darren Van Impe and is the grandson of former Philadelphia Flyer and Stanley Cup winner Ed Van Impe.
   
• The game saw a rare three-on-0 breakaway by York in the second period, but Western goaltender Dylan Myskiw made the save and stopped the rebound as well
   
• Later on, while each team was shorthanded one player, the Mustangs were able to break into the York end on a rare four-on-one, but were not able to get a shot on goal
   
• Captain Kyle Pettit took a checking from behind penalty in the second period which led to a two-minute penalty and an automatic ten-minute misconduct, for a total of 12 minutes in penalties.  This was Pettit’s 99th game in a Mustang uniform.  In his previous 98 regular season games, he only had a total of 14 minutes in penalties.  He almost doubled his career totals in one play.  “I would never try to intentionally injure someone,” said Pettit about the hit on the York player that led to the misconduct.  “I think I just tried to push him into the boards and he was kind of in the danger zone.  So, lesson learned for me to try and ease up on those kind of plays.”
   
• Western has given up at least 3 goals in all 6 games they have played so far this season
   
• Western’s record is now two wins, two losses and two overtime losses
   
• They have played their first 6 games over a 15-day period, but now have 7 days before their next game, which is Friday, November 4 in Toronto against the Varsity Blues (who beat Western last weekend at Thompson Arena 5-0)
   
• Their next home game is Saturday, November 5 versus Laurier. Puck drop is at 7 pm