LONDON, Ont. — Marc Nother made 32 saves in his first career CIS home start and his teammates helped make sure that performance would be enough for his first-ever CIS win, netting four goals in a penalty-filled second period to walk away with a 4-2 victory over the Nipissing Lakers at Thompson Arena Friday night.
 
"Marc played great," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer post-game. "It was nice to get him a CIS win and you know he made a couple of big saves for us as the game went on and you need those from your goalie and he gave it to us tonight. He deserved the win."
 
Nother sure started out on the right note. Just over two minutes into the first period, Stefan Salituro was booked for high sticking and the third-year goaltender bailed him out, making the initial save on the attacking forward before sprawling out to make a follow-up desperation stop with his outstretched left pad. He would make at least five more saves before the first five minutes ticked off the clock, as Nipissing largely outplayed Western for much of the first frame. 
 
But Lakers' backstop Kirk Rafuse did have to be sharp early too, turning aside a number of solid Western chances to finish with 12 saves in the frame. His team would back up his performance by putting up the only goal of the period, as Colin Campbell beat Nother 15 minutes in to break the scoreless tie and send the Lakers' into the intermission up 1-0.
 
That lead wouldn't last long, however, as the Mustangs would get two goals from defenceman David Corrente before the midway mark of the second. The third-year's first tally came off a slap shot from the point that just barely dribbled over the line and his second was the product of a nice play from Luke Karaim, who fooled Rafuse into thinking he was keeping on a two-on-one before sliding the puck over to Corrente for the tap-in at the last moment.
 
Heading into Saturday night, the Mustangs had gotten just one goal from a defensive core that Singer said before the season he hoped would contribute more offensively. But some extra work on that area in practice this week appeared to pay off in Western's two weekend games, as defensemen were in on all eight goals that the Mustangs scored.
 
"We actually put quite a focus on it this week in practice— we thought we have worked on it but we really put a focus on it this week" Singer said when asked about getting offence from the backend. "The D were in on all four goals last night and then tonight they had another great night and, most importantly, besides the points they're creating offence with their play, jumping up in the rush as well as being involved off the cycle."
 
Matt Marantz would get the other two goals for the Mustangs before the period finished, wiring a point-shot through a couple of screens to put Western up 3-1 before providing a response to the Lakers' only goal of the period with just 14 seconds left on the clock. Nipissing's tally came from Jacob McDowell, who made up for taking his team's first two penalties of the night by jamming the puck past Nother on what originally appeared to be a dead play.
 
The third period would be goal-free, perhaps due to the fact that both teams cleaned up their acts after opening the game with two messy periods. Western racked up 18 penalty minutes in the first period compared to Nipissing's two, while the second period saw both teams spending some quality time in the box with 12 two-minute infractions handed out between the squads.
 
It wasn't just Western's discipline that improved in the final frame either. The referees put the whistles away and with them went Western's sloppy play, as the Mustangs began to make some crisp first passes and execute their systems a bit cleaner than they had earlier in the night. Sure, Nipissing buzzed, finishing with eight shots in the period, but for the Mustangs didn't look like they were in danger of giving up their momentum at any point in the frame.
 
"We had a good third— we played how we need to do in the third," said Singer. "We forechecked hard, we managed the puck, we kept the third guy high, we took advantage of their [defence] on the cycle— that was the game plan. I thought we were a little loose with the puck and our discipline the first couple of periods but we got the points. It's nice to get the points."
 
It's especially nice to get the points considering the tough schedule that lies ahead for the Mustangs. Western has won all seven of their home games so far this season but they won't have the luxury of playing at Thompson Arena again until January, as their next six games will take place on the road against some tough, tough competition.
 
"I can't remember in my career when we've played our last home game in Thompson Arena in the first half in the second week of November," Singer said. "But that's what the schedule dictates and we've got six incredibly difficult games on the road. We're happy we got the points now but we've got to focus on next weekend.

The first stop on the road will see the Mustangs travel east to take on the Concordia Stingers in Montreal. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
Notes
 
Nipissing has had a near monopoly on rookie performers so far this season. Well, sort of. Five of the top 18 rookie leaders and two of the top 10 are from the university— making them the most represented team in both categories heading into Saturday. Only one of those five players— Colin Campbell— got on the board on the night… With 31 penalty minutes last night and 40 on Saturday, Western broke their 2014-15 singe-game penalty minute record for the second consecutive game. Before this weekend their previous high was 26 against Brock on October 11… Marantz is now tied with Steve Reese for the team lead in goals with five. Six of his points and all five of those goals have come in the last six games as the Calgary native is hot at the moment…