Mustangs dominate Guelph, advance to Queen’s Cup with 5-1 victory

LONDON, Ont. – For the first time in the West Division Finals, Western managed to do something that seemed nearly impossible through the first two games: make Andrew D'Agostini seem human.

Guelph's backstop, who entered with a save percentage over .950 in the series, turned in another solid performance but couldn't hold off the surging Mustangs in the third period, as the purple and white added three big goals to lock up a 5-1 victory over the Gryphons at Thompson Arena and advance to their first Queen's Cup since 2012.
 
Along with a berth in the OUA Finals, which will see Western face off against UQTR at Thompson Arena on Saturday night, the Mustangs also earned a ticket to the CIS Championship in Halifax. After leading the team through a season filled with injuries and adversity, head coach Clarke Singer wasn't missing the importance of the moment.
 
"When you look back at the season—I think this is the seventh or eight Queen's Cup I've had the opportunity to be in—we have probably the most character shown by a group of ours throughout the year, given what we went through," said Singer. "Great group effort but the key thing is enjoy this for a few hours… you've got a trophy to play for on Saturday."
 
"I've always wanted to go to nationals and play for the Queen's Cup and not just for me but for all the guys in that room right now—I'm so proud of them," added Mustangs' captain David Corrente. "I can't describe how proud I am of these guys. They worked hard every day—practices, workouts, games—so it's nice to see them rewarded like that."
 
For the third straight game, Western got on the board first, although this time they never let Guelph back into it. After giving up a 1-0 lead in the third period of Saturday's game, the Mustangs made sure to keep the jets going on Sunday, scoring three goals before the Gryphons could get on the board 3:58 into the final frame.
 
"Our lives were on the line tonight and this team's too good to roll over and die," said Corrente. "We knew what was at stake, we knew what we could play for, so we came out strong tonight and we're going to carry that on into Saturday."
 
Greg Dodds was hands-down the first star of the night for Western. The junior backstop was making his fifth consecutive start and second in two nights but didn't look any worse for wear, playing perhaps his best game of the playoffs. He finished with 29 saves to pick up his fifth win of the playoffs and now owns a .921 save percentage in the post-season.
 
Some of his best work of the night came in the third period, which began with a five-on-three for the desperate Gryphons. But Dodds and his defence did what they've done all series, shutting out Guelph's power play despite a number of chances on one-timers. With six more kills on Sunday, Western finished the series a perfect 18-for-18 on the penalty kill.
 
"I thought the killers did a great job," said Singer. "Again, a really key five-on-three penalty kill early in the third there that really cemented this for us. But you know we actually changed our kill every game—we tried three different approaches with them just so they didn't get set with what we were doing and I thought the guys did an outstanding job tonight."
 
The Mustangs looked just as good on the power play too, firing home a pair of markers with the man advantage. Robert Polesello and Luke Karaim did the honours, increasing Western's lead to 2-1 in the second and 5-1 in the third, respectively. In between those markers were a wrap-around goal from Spenser Cobbold and a snipe from Alex Micallef.
 
Cobbold finished with the only multi-point performance for Western, closing out the game with a goal and an assist to increase his playoff point total to eight. Meanwhile, Trevor Warnaar opened the game with his first goal of the 2016 OUA playoffs and the second post-season marker of his university career, beating D'Agostini on a breakaway.
 
Western will have just under a week to regroup before they take to the ice against UQTR in the battle for the Queen's Cup on Saturday. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena, as the Mustangs try and take home the banner against a team that dominated them at home earlier in the season.
 
"I actually got a chance to watch a bit of their Carleton series over the last couple of days and they're going to be a little different team than Guelph," said Singer about the Patriotes. "They play a little bit more of a finesse game and they really schooled us in here when we played them in the first half so it's going to be a real tough game."
 
"Don't know much about those guys," added Corrente. "So we're going to prepare, watch some video on them and give ourselves the best chance to win this hockey game."
 
"But enjoy this first?" asked CHRW's Steve Cobb.
 
"Absolutely, absolutely."
 
NOTES: Peter Delmas and veteran forward Shaun Furlong were both absent on Sunday with injuries… Mike DiPaolo, usually a defenceman for the Mustangs, played forward on Sunday in the absence of Furlong and was excellent, bringing a physical element to the game that Western had been missing at points this series. "Guelph is a very physical, north-south team and we didn't have a lot of physicality in the first couple games—we wanted to add a little bit of that," said Singer when asked about the move. Defenceman Sean Callaghan also brought his physical game, providing a momentum-shifting hit five minutes into the matchup.

Source: Western Mustangs