After a solid 3-1 road victory over the Waterloo Warriors on Wednesday night, the York University Lions men's hockey team headed further West to London to face the Western Mustangs on Thursday night, in what was Western's first game of the winter term. 

The Mustangs were the aggressors early, dictating terms and getting several shots on goal. The home side got on the board first at the 3:44 mark, as Eric Van Impe went top shelf past Matt Tovell, who was making his second consecutive start for York after a 28-save performance Wednesday.  Christiano Aiello and Franco Sproviero drew the assists on the goal that gave Western a 1-0 lead Tovell was excellent in the period, stopping 22 shots and keeping his team down only the one goal after one.  

The second frame was fierce, as the teams combined for six penalties. In and amongst the highly-intense action, it would be the Mustangs doubling the lead. Owen MacNeil deflected a Van Impe point shot, which was stopped by Tovell, but MacNeil dove to poke the rebound past the Lion netminder to make it a 2-0 game with 6:19 to go. The Lions did hold a 12-11 edge on the shot clock in the middle stanza and earned a pair of power plays in quick succession, but were unable to find the scoreboard as Western took a 2-0 lead into the third period.  

A skirmish between, among others, Western's MacNeil and York's Bryan McAndrews at the 16:52 mark of the second led to double minors to both players, bringing about led to some 4-on-4 action that would carry over to the third period. The physicality continued in the third, with several scruffles breaking out leading to offsetting penalties. The Lions went to a 4-on-3 power play with 10:26 left, but the Mustang penalty kill that was 5-for-5 on the night killed it off, as they hung on for a 2-0 victory. 

Both teams went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, with a combined 19 penalties handed out for a total of 46 penalty minutes between the two sides.