Saturday evening's (Jan. 16) matchup of the top two teams in the OUA West saw the No. 10 York University men's hockey team edged out by the Western Mustangs (12-8-0) by 3-2 score at Canlan Ice Arena.
 
Despite the defeat, the Lions still hold an impressive 12-6-3 record on the year, and are tied at the top of the OUA West standings with the Mustangs at 27 points each.
 
The Lions dominated the first period with the majority of possession and had a total of 12 shots on net as opposed to the Mustang's four.
 
After several attempts on net the Lions were able to open the scoring at 10:44 off of a power play. After Trevor Peterson (Thornhill, Ont.) and Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.) circulated the puck around a group Mustang defenders, Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) was found at the top of the blue line and hit a bullet of a slap shot into the bottom corner of the net.
 
In the last minute of play Colton Vannucci (High River, Alta.) nearly deflected a shot past the glove of goaltender Greg Dodds, but was denied by the post. The first period ended 1-0 in favour of the Lions.
 
It was short-lived however, as the Mustangs were quick to find the equalizer within the opening minute of the second period. Once Robert Polesello and Andrew Goldberg teamed up to find Jonathan Laser in front of the net, Laser slipped the puck past Lions goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) and the score was leveled at 1-1.
 
Moments later the Mustangs were able to edge out a lead at 1:54, thanks to a goal by Spenser Cobbold. Shaun Furlong was credited with the assist after finding Cobbold at the far post.
 
At 9:16 the Mustangs increased the lead to 3-1. After a stoppage of play Cobbold was quick to react and found Noah Schwartz in a wide position to pick a pocket of the net
 
However the Lions were eager to narrow the score and ended up doing so at 14:34. Capitalizing off of a power play advantage, Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) and Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.) shared the puck before it was passed to Mark Cross (Strasbourg, Sask.) who was able to find the back of the net. It was 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
 
The third period was evenly matched, and although both teams had many chances to put more goals up to the board, the period remained goalless and the Mustangs ended up taking the game 3-2.
 
Up next for the Lions is a game against the Waterloo Warriors at Columbia Icefield. Fans can catch the action live on Jan. 22 (Friday) at 7pm.