Box Score If hockey games were fifty minutes long, the Western Mustangs would have easily extended their winning streak with a victory over the Waterloo Warriors. And if hockey games were 65 minutes, the Warriors might have snapped their streak cold.

But after 60 minutes, the Mustangs had done just enough to hold on.

The Warriors remained winless in 2013, and Western weathered a furious comeback and pushed their winning streak to an astonishing 14 games with a heated 5-4 victory over the host Warriors in front of a raucous crowd on Friday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena in Waterloo.

Western's top line of Zach Harnden, Steve Reese and Matt Clarke combined for 8 points for the Mustangs (16-3-0). Justin Larson (Buckhorn/), Kirt Hill (Winnipeg/) and Jarred Parent (West Montrose/) each notched two points for the Warriors in a losing cause, as Waterloo's record drops to 9-7-3. Josh Unice notched his CIS-leading 14^th win of the season in goal, turning aside 32 Warriors shots. Veteran backstop Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) wasn't to blame for the loss in the Waterloo net, making 33 saves.

The Warriors certainly didn't start the game with the same gusto with which they finished it, as Western's Adam McKee put the visitors ahead 1-0 on a coast-to-coast rush just 2:15 into the game. Just over a minute later, Harnden drove to the net and beat Hartigan high off a centering feed from Clarke to make it 2-0 Mustangs inside the game's first four minutes.

The Warriors got their night kickstarted courtesy an unlikely offensive source and an untimely mistake from the Western keeper. Less than 3 minutes after falling behind two, Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer/) scored his first of the year when his drifting wrister from the neutral zone squeezed past Unice and across the goal line to make the score 2-1. In the late stages of the first, the Warriors ended up with a shorthanded odd-man rush, and Parent found a streaking Josh Woolley (Cambridge/) to even things up at 2.

The turning point of the game arguably came 45 seconds later when, during the same penalty that the Warriors scored shorthanded on, Western's Julian Cimadamore scored on a seeing eye point shot through a maze of bodies in front. Instead of going into the dressing room with their early lead squandered, the 'stangs finished the first 20 minutes up 3-2.

Western extended their lead in the first minute of the second when, just as a penalty expired, Kyle DeCoste unwound on a one-timer that beat Hartigan to the blocker side to make it 4-2. The score remained the same until the final minute of the frame, when Harnden tipped home a Clarke point shot on the power play to give the Mustangs a 5-2 lead through two periods.

For the longest time, the third period looked like it would be relatively uneventful, save for the escalating tempers and physical play that earmarks every Warriors-Mustangs game. But with just over five minutes to go, Waterloo captain Kirt Hill (Winnipeg/) threw his team right back into the thick of things when he beat Clarke wide on a shorthanded rush, drew Unice to the short side, and finished on a wraparound to make the score 5-3.

With just over two minutes remaining and Hartigan streaking to the bench for the extra attacker, Blake Chartier (Winnipeg/) got loose behind the net and took advantage of a swimming Unice, beating him on yet another wraparound play to cut the lead to 5-4.

Tensions rose as the Warriors piled on the pressure, and the hosts came close twice to finding the equalizer. But in the end, the Mustangs held the fort and held on to the 5-4 win.
The Warriors will have little time to lick their wounds, as they welcome the Brock Badgers to Waterloo tomorrow night. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 at the Columbia Icefield Arena, and the game will be broadcast live on the Streaming Sports Network at www.ssncanada.ca.

Notes: The Warriors were 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Mustangs finished 2-for-6…Larson's point streak is now at 10 games. He has 20 points in that span…Harnden now has 11 points in his last four games against the Warriors.