Gaels down Mustangs on Thursday night at Thompson Arena

LONDON, Ont. – Kevin Bailie is reaffirming his status as one of the top goaltenders in the CIS this season and the Mustangs got a first-hand look at why on Thursday night.

The third-year backstop entered with two shutouts in his last three games and continued his hot play, turning away 43 shots to help the Queen's Gaels down Western 4-3 at Thompson Arena.

"I thought we did a lot of real good things," said Western head coach Clarke Singer. "I thought the first and third we outshot them double in both periods but in the second we got off our game a little bit—I think they took it to us and we just weren't playing the game the right way."

Scoring four goals is nothing new for the 9-3-0 Mustangs, but doing it against once of the best defensive teams in the OUA is impressive. Queen's entered the game with the second-best team goals against average in the CIS at 2.01 and their goalies had allowed more than two goals just three times so far this season.

"Queen's is one of the best teams in the country," said Singer. "They've got the lowest goals against in the OUA and we talked before the game, you can't allow four and expect to beat these guys. Parts of tonight were a step forward for us in terms of what we want to do but parts were a step back and we've just got to make sure we play with that consistency you need to beat good teams."

Darcy Greenaway scored the winner for the Gaels half way through the third period, giving Queen's their third and final lead of the night just under 10 minutes after Spenser Cobbold tied the game at threes.  The purple and white pushed right until the end, playing by far their strongest hockey of the game in the final frame, but just couldn't get the puck past Bailie.

"Not different, just a reminder," said Singer when asked whether there was a change of message in the second intermission. "Not necessarily getting back to our systems but getting back to the things we have to do well. We've got to prioritize playing defence, we have to make sure we're getting pucks deep, we're not trying to make great plays just good plays. Just those little details are important to win and we didn't do enough of those little things tonight."

Western played the game with 17 skaters and just four defencemen thanks to injuries, and the wear and tear began to show in the second. The defence bailed out their forwards on a number of occasions, particularly with a number of nice blocks, but couldn't prevent Queen's from getting on the board.

"It is what it is—you can't worry about it," said Singer when asked about injuries. "You can't manufacture guys; you've just got to do whatever you can. When you go back to second, we made it a lot tougher on those guys. We allowed three or four four-on-twos, three-on-twos and that puts extra pressure on those guys when they're playing every shift as it is."

"We didn't really give our defence a lot of slack back there, letting all the odd man rushes that they had tonight," added Shaun Furlong. "I think one thing we've really got to focus on is our third forward in the offensive zone so we don't give them those rushes. We have some of the best defence in the league right now. Playing four d, going every other shift, it showed tonight. But I think as an entire team we just ran out of gas there in the last few minutes."

At some points of the game one might have thought Western was playing with a forward back on defence, as Alex Micallef consistently pushed the pace on the rush, showcasing the nifty puck skills that have helped make him Western's top scoring defenceman. He registered an assist on Cobbold's equalizer in the third to give him eight points through his last seven games and 11 points on the year, tying a career high.

Ray Huether also continued a hot streak, putting up a goal and an assist to give him six points in his last three games. The line of Huether, Furlong, and Andrew Goldberg was leaned on throughout the game and continued to impress. Furlong netted his fifth goal in three games to open the second before Huether beat Bailie clean 11 minutes later.

"It's been working great so far," said Furlong of the line. "We're just trying to work on the little things and doing the small things right. Fortunately enough for us it's been translating into some offensive game, which we're happy to take, but we just try to keep it simple, get the pucks out of our zone and then hopefully we'll get some work in their zone."

The line did an excellent job working the puck down low in Queen's zone late in the third, highlighted by a behind-the-back pass from Furlong to give Goldberg some space behind the goal-line and a chance to set up a play. But Bailie's game-high 18 saves helped secure the Gaels' eighth win of the season.

"It was a hard-fought game," acknowledged Furlong. "Both teams are playing their best hockey there. It's our fault for letting them stay in the game that long anyways so it kind of came back to haunt us there but both teams played a good full 60 minutes and it just so happened to end up in their favour."

Huether's goal in the second period gave Western their only lead of the night, but just over four minutes later it had been erased and Queen's was back in front. Peter Angelopolous and Patrick McGillis ripped strong shots for goals within two minutes of each other to spoil what had up until then been a particularly strong period for Greg Dodds, who made 16 saves in the second and 31 overall.

Western will be back on the ice on Friday night, when they welcome a rested UOIT Ridgebacks squad for a 7 p.m. matchup at Thompson Arena. The Ridgebacks have proven themselves to be a dangerous team this season even without extra rest, so it should be an exciting matchup.

"Certainly when you play back-to-back games, playing a rested UOIT team tomorrow, it might be a little more challenging," said Singer. "But that's the game. We've got to play hard, we've got to play well, and we've got to find a way to get wins."

NOTES: Western thought they tied the game with time winding down in the third. The puck was pulled out of the net after a small delay, but the referees congregated and decided not to award a goal. Post-game, Singer wasn't using the play as an excuse: "They were good," Singer said of the officials. "The puck was lost sight of at the top of the crease and that's when the whistle should have gone and it wouldn't have mattered where it ended up after that."

Source: Western Mustangs