LONDON, Ont. – If Western looked like a team playing together for the first time against the Badgers on Friday night, it's because in many ways they were.
 
Brock took advantage of a slow start from a Mustang team that featured six players with three or less games under their belt this season and Badger backstop Clint Windsor made a number of key saves late in the third to preserve a 3-2 victory at Thompson Arena.
 
"There's not much more you can do," said Mustangs assistant coach David Kontzie of Western's late push. "We threw probably eight shots in the last minute at the net, one or two got behind the goaltender but we just couldn't get it across the line. That's what happens when you leave it to the last minute of the game to try and catch up."
 
In total, four players made their 2015-16 debut for Western on Friday. Mike DiPaolo, Stephen Sanza, Robert Polesello, and Cody Brown all suited up for the first time while Jed Rusk and Noah Schwartz were playing in their second and third games, respectively.
 
All six of those players managed to make an impact on the game: DiPaolo showcased his strength, Rusk his reach, Sanza and Polesello their high-end skill, and Brown and Schwartz their shiftiness and offensive foresight. But the Badgers came out of the gate sharper, scoring twice in the first, and by the time Western started clicking in the third period it was too late.
 
Of the fresh faces, Brown stood out as particularly impressive, especially considering that he hadn't played in a game since Western's matchup against Brock on January 21, 2015. He went bar down for his first of the season on Friday and now has five points through just five full games with the Mustangs.
 
"It's great to see," Kontzie said of Brown's play on Friday. "There's a player that's had a lot of terrible luck in his first year and a half or whatever with injuries. To see him step up back into the lineup and make an impact is great to see."
 
"I've had a lot of bad luck the last two years but it's good to be back," said Brown. "It's good to get the first one out of the way and it's good to be back with the guys too."
 
Peter Delmas continued to show off his elite skill in net for Western, making a number of excellent saves with the game on the line. With time winding down in the second period, he made a breakaway stop on Ryan Purvis, denying him a hat trick, before committing more highway robbery just a minute later with two straight saves in tight.
 
Delmas finished with 34 saves on 37 shots while his counterpart in Windsor made 17 saves in the third period alone to bring his total to 40 saves on the night. Windsor, a sophomore for the Badgers, now possesses a .927 save percentage through 13 games this season.
 
Neither team cashed in on the man advantage, although Brock still benefitted immensely from Western's six minutes of penalties early in the third period. Ray Huether took a four-minute high sticking penalty in the offensive zone before Alex Micallef was called for interference 11:11 into the frame, allowing Brock to keep the focus out of their own zone.
 
For their part, the Badgers took their own high sticking call late in the third, although it didn't prove to be costly. With Delmas pulled, the Mustangs got off nearly ten shots on Windsor, although they just couldn't find the back of the net.
 
"We've been working on the power play quite a bit and we had some great looks," said Kontzie. "We moved the puck around the way we wanted to, got pucks to the net. It was just one of those nights the puck didn't go into the net for us."
 
Next up on the docket for Western is a trip to Waterloo, where they'll face off against the Laurier Golden Hawks with a chance to split the weekend on the line.
 
"The approach that we had in the last five minutes [of tonight's game], we need that approach from the get-go," said Kontzie when asked about Saturday's game. "[We need to] come out, play better systems, we have to get the puck to the net, have to eliminate the two-on-ones, three-on-ones against us and play a full sixty minutes."
 
NOTES
With an assist on Friday, Schwartz now has a point in all three of the games that he's played this season. He's one year removed from an impressive 21-point campaign and will be a key piece if Western is to have a playoff run this year… Brock's Ryan Purvis led all skaters with three points on Friday, scoring two goals and adding an assist…