LONDON, Ont. – Kyle De Coste tickled the twine twice for the second consecutive night, Daniel Erlich and Matt Clarke added five points apiece, and Josh Unice turned away 29 of 30 shots as the Mustangs posted a dominant 7-1 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday night at Thompson Arena.

The win marks Western's fifth in a row and Unice's seventh, as the veteran netminder has been absolutely stellar since the Mustangs played Windsor at Comerica Park in December. With the two points Friday, Western claimed sole possession of first place in the OUA West, passing both Lakehead and Ryerson in the process.

"Tonight and last night against Guelph I thought were probably our two best sixty minute efforts of the year," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer after the win. "Good effort on special teams, some goals, [defence] playing well and Josh playing the best he has all year."

Both goaltenders had to be strong in the first as the two teams traded chances for the better part of the period. Unice finished the frame with 11 saves in total while Varsity Blues goaltender Brett Willows made seven, although many of the Mustangs' chances came from in close and were arguably of better quality.

Western did get to Willows in the period though, as De Coste extended his points streak to three games with a power play goal with three minutes remaining. Standing by the far boards, De Coste received a feed from Erlich and made no mistake, roofing the puck with an absolute blast from a distance.

Despite the setback, Willows was back on top of his game to begin the second and the Mustangs made sure he had to be, firing a number of chances at the sophomore goaltender including a number while they were shorthanded in the first five minutes. The Varsity Blues rewarded their goaltender's effort as Paul Van De Velde kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and fired it past Unice at 11:45.

But soon the Mustangs were back on the board, with Erlich regaining the lead for Western with a highlight reel, unassisted goal. Erlich walked out from the corner and made a number of quality moves before roofing the puck over Willows where it appeared as though there was no room to score.

Erlich was nowhere near done in the period either, assisting on a pair of power play goals less than 30 seconds apart at 14:29 and 14:51 to help the Mustangs take a three-goal lead heading into the third. The second-year forward assisted on goals from De Coste and Reese, putting the Mustangs up 4-1.

When asked about his five-point effort after the game, Erlich was quick to credit his teammates for his success.

"The team's been playing pretty well as of late, everybody's been picking up their stride at the perfect time," Erlich said. "It's pretty easy to go out there and get points when you're teams playing such a spectacular game."

The third period would not see a Toronto comeback but it did have excitement in other ways, with Unice making a nice point-blank save with his pad six minutes in and Stephen Gaskin scoring a shorthanded goal at 13:20. Unice ended up turning aside 11 in the period and 29 in the game, ensuring that he would have his sixth win in as many starts for the Mustangs.

Asked after the game what's contributed to the team's recent success, Singer pointed to the improved play of Unice—which was on full display Friday—but also noted that a number of other things have begun to click.

"Josh was playing good, now he's playing great; special teams were okay, now they're good; our defensive play was okay, now it's good," Singer said. "Not one major thing but lots of little things."

Reese put the cherry on top of the victory with his second of the game at 7:47, capitalizing on an interference call to Charlie Connell by roofing the puck on the power play. Assisting on Reese's goal were Matt Clarke, who ended the night with five helpers, and Zach Harnden, who extended his point streak to seven games with his three point effort.

Evidently not content with the amount of cherries on top, Harnden added his third point of the night with his team's seventh goal at 2:05. Erlich assisted on the tally to bring his point total to the night to five, giving him 39 points in 22 games this season.

When asked how the team will have to prepare for their game against Guelph next week following such a big win, Singer was quick to point out that they have to move on quickly.

"We've got to have a real good week of practice and keep the focus on the little things it takes to get better," Singer said. "That's what we've been doing all year really but we just seem to be playing a little better now."

Notes

The five players who had multi-point nights for the Mustangs were Reese (2g, 1a), Clarke (0g, 5a), Harnden (1g, 2a), De Coste (2g), and Erlich (1g, 4a). When asked to comment on the depth of his offence after the game, Singer acknowledged that it's helpful but also pointed to the depth on defence. "We're able to run six guys back there," Singer said of his defense corps.

Harnden, Erlich, De Coste, and Reese all extended their point-streaks on Friday. Harnden is now on a seven game point streak, scoring five goals and adding eight assists along the way; Erlich is also on a seven game point-streak, registering two goals and 12 assists, De Coste is on a two game point streak, scoring five and assisting on two; and Reese now has four goals and seven assists during a five game point streak.

Three Mustangs players now sit in the top ten of OUA scoring, with Erlich in second (9g, 30a, 39p), Clarke tied for fourth (12g, 22a, 34p), and Harnden in sixth (14g, 19a, 33p). Erlich is only one point back of Ryerson's Jamie Wise for the league lead.

De Coste two goals give him nine goals and three assists over his last eight games as he's managed to get on the score sheet in seven of those matchups. He had a brilliant game against Guelph on Thursday night, putting up two goals and two assists in a four point effort.

Unice's sixth win in a row has shot him to the top of the OUA leaderboard for wins with 12. He is now tied with Parker van Buskirk of Windsor, against whom he started his current win-streak when he turned away 39 of 41 shots in a 5-2 win on December 16.