Box Score GUELPH, Ont. - Josh Unice turned aside 28 shots for his first shutout of the season and Kyle De Coste contributed four points to lead the Mustangs to a 4-0 victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Thursday night at the Gryphon Centre Arena.
 
The victory—Western's fourth win in a row and Unice's fifth—pushes the Mustangs into a tie for first place in the OUA West with the Ryerson Rams. Both Ryerson and Western have 30 points on the season, although the Mustangs own a slight advantage having only played 21 games to the Rams' 22.
 
Unice has been a big reason for the Mustangs recent surge and he continued his strong play on Thursday, stopping 15 shots through the first two periods before turning away a game-high 10 in the third. The veteran netminder now owns an impressive .954 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average during his season-high five game win streak.
 
On offence, Matt Paltridge scored the only goal the Mustangs would end up needing in the first period, beating Rams goaltender Keith Hamilton just over 10 minutes into the frame for his second of the season. De Coste, who assisted on Paltridge's opener, would add his first of two on the night 5:50 into the second, finishing on the power play with help from Matt Clarke and Daniel Erlich.
 
De Coste would be back at it again in the third, teaming up with Zach Harnden to set up Steve Reese for his seventh of the season just over three minutes in. Reese returned the favour six minutes later, earning the first assist on De Coste's second of the night for his third point of the game. 
 
Earning the second assist on De Coste's second was Harnden, whose two assists on Thursday night extend his point streak to six games. The third-year forward, who scored a hat trick against Brock last Friday, now has five goals and six assists for 11 points during his current point streak.
 
De Coste has been on a bit of a tear himself, earning a point in six of his last seven games and accumulating seven goals and three assists for 10 points during that time. Erlich is also hot, as his assist on Thursday night gives him nine points during his current six-game point streak.
 
The Mustangs will have little time to rest as they'll travel back to London tonight for their game against Toronto on Friday night. The puck is set to drop at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena for the teams' second meeting this season and fans can watch all the action live on Mustangs TV.
 
Notes

With his shutout on Thursday night Unice moves into the top 10 in OUA save percentage at .924. He now sits in ninth in save percentage, eleventh in goals against average at 2.68, and second in wins with 11.
 
Harnden's two assists give him 30 points on the season, a benchmark he has now hit in all three of his seasons with the Mustangs. The Thunder Bay native is now only five points away from matching his career high of 35 points with seven games left to go. Four more points and he'll have his 100th career OUA regular season point.
 
Erlich's power play assist in the second gives occasion to mention that, of his league leading 26 assists on the season, 17 of those have come on the power play. That stat is also good enough for first in the OUA, five assists higher than any other player.