TORONTO - Western and Ryerson traded chances for over 60 minutes, but it was the Rams who came away with a 6-5 overtime victory on Saturday night at home. 

Hayden McCool (Whitby, Ont) is absolutely on fire, having a four-game goal streak. The steady forward opened the scoring and potted the game-winning overtime goal tonight. Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont) also came up clutch and tied things up with a minute left in the third. Mathew Santos (Toronto), Gregory DiTomaso (Etobicoke, Ont) and David Miller (Burlington, Ont) also added to the Rams' goal total. 

"It's not always going to be pretty; tonight was a good example of that. Tonight I thought we showed amazing effort (by) not giving up" said McCool post-game.  

Both squads traded goals in the opening 40 minutes. McCool's blast from the face-off circle opened the scoring halfway into the first. Later, a shorthanded goal and a comedy of errors in a clearance attempt led to a 2-1 Western lead after the first. 

In the second, Santos went on a mission down the right wing and knotted things up on a quick wrister. The Rams' celebration was cut short as Cordell James secured his second of the game less than a minute later. After playing down for about ten minutes, David Miller evened things up from the slot. 

Each team struck on the power-play in the opening half of the third period. DiTomaso unleashed a slapshot past Luke Peresinni before Western's Franco Sproviero beat Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va) and the game was tied up at four. 

After another scoreless man-advantage, Forrest snuffed out a Western breakaway with just over six minutes to go in the game, keeping the Rams in it. Forrest went on to make 29 saves in the victory. 

Sproviero's second of the game from the crease seemed like the dagger for Ryerson with just three minutes remaining. However, Mistele refused to let the Rams go down easy entering the break and tied things up with just a minute and three seconds left on the clock.

In overtime, a slashing minor for the Mustangs proved costly. During the 4-on-3 man advantage in sudden death, McCool buried a Santos rebound and ended the Rams' calendar year on a high note.  

Despite the win, Ryerson surrendered their second power-play goal against in as many games, a rarity for the squad's special teams. The Rams have also allowed 10 goals in the last two games. 

"It seems like every mistake we make ends up in the back of our net. We've got to clean up our defensive game if we're going to have success here in the second half" said Head Coach Johnny Duco. 

The Rams take the month of December off until embarking on an early January road trip starting in St. Catharines versus Brock on January 2, 2020 at 7:15 p.m. Ryerson also welcomes skaters to a Community Skate with the Men's Hockey Team on Sunday, December 8, 2019 at Regent Park South Arena from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.