Box Score For 51 minutes on Thursday night in London, the Waterloo Warriors played a nearly-perfect road playoff game. In the last nine, the Western Mustangs reminded them why they're the defending OUA West champions.

Daniel Erlich and Zach Harnden scored the tying and go-ahead goals less than three minutes apart in the third period to give the Western Mustangs a 3-1 victory over the Warriors, and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three OUA West semifinal.

Erlich also added an assist on Harnden's goal, as well as an empty net goal to complete his three-point night. CIS scoring champ Justin Larson (Buckhorn/) tallied Waterloo's only marker earlier in the third period of the tight-checking game.

Josh Unice stayed perfect this postseason with his third win in as many games, turning aside 27 shots in the victory. In Waterloo's net, Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) allowed only two goals for the third straight game this postseason, but it wasn't enough for the win. He stopped 30 shots in a losing cause.

With four of the nation's top five scorers in this series, a tight-checking, low-scoring game might have come as a surprise – especially considering that Waterloo was missing Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer/) and Greg Steffes (Amherstburg/) on the back end, and were running with only 5 defencemen. But Warriors vets Joe Underwood (Canton/) and Ryan Molle (Calgary/) once again logged astronomical ice time totals, and went toe-to-toe with Western's high-octane offense.

Western's defensive corps also embraced the shut-down role, and shot-blocking looked to be their number one weapon on the night. David Corrente twice blocked high slot shots on Waterloo's second-period power play to keep the game scoreless at that time.

Despite a recent history of falling behind the Mustangs early in games, the Warriors were actually the aggressors in the first period, carrying the bulk of the play and generating the lion's share of the early scoring chances. Unice looked shaky early on, often mishandling rebounds and losing the puck after making the first stop – but he was effective enough to keep the game scoreless through one period.

It was Hartigan's turn to answer the bell early in the second period, as he made a number of big stops to maintain the goose eggs on the scoreboard. The momentum pendulum swung back to the visiting Warriors as the period went on, and Waterloo was twice victimized by iron in the second frame – Larson ripped a shot off the cross bar, and Colin Behenna (Waterloo/) found the goal post later on.

Waterloo looked to maintain the momentum early in the third, and they turned that into the game's first goal when Larson beat Unice off a feed from Andy Smith (Rosetown/). Just when it looked like the Warriors could squeak out a huge road win, Western's top scoring line went to work.

First, Erlich buried a goal behind Hartigan with just under nine minutes to play in regulation to knot things up at 1. Then, just 2:27 later, Warrior killer Harnden put the Mustangs up for good with his sixth goal in four games against Waterloo this season.

The Warriors had some chances on goal mouth scrambles in the closing minutes, but they couldn't knock one past Unice. When Erlich found the yawning cage to make it 3-1, Waterloo's game one fate was sealed.

The Warriors will now shift focus to staving off elimination back home on Saturday night in game two of the second-round series. Puck drop at the Columbia Icefield Arena is slated for 7:30 pm, and the game will be streamed live on www.ssncanada.ca.

Notes: The Warriors went 0-for-2 on the man advantage, while Western went 0-for-1…Smith's assist gives him five points, tying him for the team lead in playoff scoring with Underwood…Sam Caldwell (Cape Breton/) saw the majority of top-pairing minutes with Underwood, while fellow rookies Robin Clarke (Cambridge/) and Paul Bonar (Brandon/) both played increased time on the depleted Waterloo back end.