The Mustangs men’s hockey team completes its stretch of home games against the Windsor Lancers on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. In the last meeting between the two teams Western dashed the Lancers’ playoffs hopes winning 2-0 at Thompson Arena to sweep the three game series. The ‘Stangs look for the same result in their first meeting this season and have home ice on their side.
The Lancers have strong depth in their hockey program, and the Mustangs’ have talent with ties to the Windsor area as goalies Josh Unice and John Cullen are both former players for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. So far, starting goalie Unice is off to a convincing start, going undefeated in Western’s first two regular season games.
The Stangs currently sit in third position in the OUA standings ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against Guelph and Saturday’s contest with Windsor. Scoring leader Zach Harnden showed his offensive prowess and found his stride from the Mustangs’ opening game, scoring a hat trick against Waterloo to open the year. The Mustangs’ strategy this season doesn’t focus on a single line but involves players from all four lines contributing on each shift. Western looks to rookies Matt Marantz and Daniel Elrich to continue their strong showing so far against Windsor.
The Lancers are 1-1 against York and Lakehead, and look to break their recent loss this weekend at Thompson Arena.
Western completed a valuable exhibition season, playing against Western Michigan and Miami at Ohio on the road and finished with one tie and one loss. This international presence proved the team belongs at a competitive interuniversity level, and also allowed the team to gel in order to prepare for tough competition in the OUA West division.
Without longtime head coach Clarke Singer on the bench, the Mustangs show no sign of tension and look to Patrick Powers who’s at the helm this season. With a game this early in the season Powers looks to guide the team’s offensive and defensive chemistry and test new lines and defensive pairings during the Guelph game.
Game time on Saturday is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Thompson Arena. Fans can also catch the game streamed live on Mustangs TV.
