Box Score WINDSOR, Ont. – Three goals within the first 15 minutes helped the Western Mustangs men’s hockey team win their fourth straight game, defeating the Windsor Lancers 7-3 on Friday night.
 
"In a very important game tonight the guys came out with one of their best efforts in the first period. We let off at the end of the second but overall it was a good team effort tonight," said Western interim head coach Patrick Powers following the win.
 
It was another night of balanced scoring for the Mustangs with six different players each finding the back of the net. Steve Reese led the way, netting his eighth goal of the season and adding three assists to take sole possession of the CIS scoring lead with 39 points. Matt Clarke recorded a goal and assist of his own to give him 38 points on the year to put him in second place in CIS scoring.
 
Josh Unice maintained his lead atop the CIS leaderboard for wins, earning his 19th victory of the season, and stopping 24 of the 27 shots he faced. Parker Van Buskirk got the start for the Lancers but was chased in the second period after surrendering five goals on 17 shots. Freshman Matt Murphy stopped 12 of 14 shots after coming in to relieve Van Buskirk.
 
Adam McKee got things started for Western, scoring his fourth goal of the season only five minutes into the game. Less than three minutes later Reese recorded Western’s second goal of the game off of assists from Kyle De Coste and Daniel Erlich. The Mustangs finished out the opening period with Zach Harnden taking a pass from Reese and burying a shorthanded goal to give Western an early 3-0 lead.
 
Just over a minute into the second period the purple and white extended their lead to four goals as Harnden connected on the power play for his CIS leading 20th goal of the season. Julian Cimadamore continued the run of special teams goals shortly after the four minute mark, scoring a shorthanded goal and sending Van Buskirk to the Windsor bench.
 
Around the midway mark of the period Windsor began to fight back, when Jadran Beljo slipped a puck past Unice to put the Lancers on the board. Isak Quakenbush added another goal only a few moments later, cutting the Mustangs lead to 5-2 as the game entered its final period.
 
After the quick start to the first two periods neither team was able to score until midway through the frame when De Coste fired his tenth goal of the season at 11:48 before Clarke added his seventeenth goal less than two minutes later to make it 7-2 for Western. Steingaber would make it 7-3 with a power play goal with less than three minutes remaining, but that was as close as things would get, giving Western their 21st victory of the year.
 
Next up for the Mustangs is a return match with the York Lions on Saturday night at Thompson Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.