The York University Lions men's hockey team picked up big win as they defeated the Western Mustangs by a score of 3-2 on Saturday (Jan. 30) in London, Ont.

Although the Lions are ahead of the Mustangs in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings they have slipped out of the top-ten Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) rankings, and the Mustangs were ranked ninth in country leading up to Saturday's game. The Lions not only gained more ground atop the OUA standings with the win,  but they made a strong case for why they should be a CIS ranked squad.

The Lions began the game slow as they fell behind in the early stages, when the Mustangs Cody Brown opened the scoring three minutes into the period followed by a Trevor Wamaar tally moments after. The Mustangs seemed to be in driver's seat as they beat Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) twice within seven minutes into the opening period. 

The turning point in Saturday's game took place in the later stages of the first period when the Mustangs were assessed a delay of game penalty that ignited the Lions attack. On the power play the Lions Colton Vannucci (High River, Alta.) and Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.) shared the puck around and eventually found Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) who potted his tenth of the season beating Mustang goaltender Peter Delmas to cut the lead in half.

After the buzzer sounded and the two teams returned to the ice for the second period it was apparent that the Lions slow start was behind them. The Lions pounced out of the gates and attacked the Mustangs defense, which resulted in a quick score from Trevor Peterson (Thornhill, Ont.) to tie the game up at 2-2, with assists going to Larson and Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.).

The offense continued their strong play in the second period and near the midway point defenseman Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) was set up by Peterson and Vanncucci to give the Lions their first lead of the night. The remaining period and a half saw the Lions hold the Mustangs scoreless, resulting in a Lions 3-2 victory.

Lions starting goaltender Perugini once again put on a clinic as he turned aside 39 of 41 shots in the win.

The Lions are now in sole possession of first place in the OUA West Division with 33 points after Saturday's crucial win and have now won three straight games. They will look to add to that streak February 5^th when they welcome the Ryerson Rams to Canlan Ice Sports at 7pm.