Box Score LONDON, Ont.–Josh Unice stopped 30 shots for his tenth win in a row and Matt Clarke scored the eventual game-winner with 2:32 left in the first to lead the Mustangs to an exciting 3-1 victory over the York Lions at Thompson Arena on Saturday night.

The win—Western's second in as many nights—ensures that the Mustangs will finish first in the OUA West and comes in the second game of a tough back-to-back. After the game, Singer said he was happy to get the win and secure first but admitted that the schedule appeared to take its toll on his team.

"Good to get four points this weekend, that's for sure," Singer said. "York gave us some trouble today—I thought we had some trouble getting the puck out of the zone and we just didn't seem to have quite as much jump and energy tonight as we did last night."

"Give credit to our guys—I don't think we were at our best but they worked very, very hard and found a way to win a bit of an ugly one."

Looking for a strong start to the game after returning to the ice less than 24 hours after their 4-3 win over Lakehead, the Mustangs didn't exactly get the start they wanted, finding themselves down a man less than two minutes in thanks to a hooking call to Steve Reese. But Unice made sure that Western wouldn't have to pay for their early mistake, making a number of big stops in close on the penalty kill to keep York off the board.

York was able to accomplish a similar feat later in the period, shutting down the OUA's number one power play on a minute-long 5-on-3. The Lions were rewarded for their big kill with an immediate power play but found themselves unable to capitalize again.

With 22 penalty minutes handed out between the two teams in the first frame alone, one might have expected that any goals would have come with the man advantage. Instead, the opposite was the case, with the Mustangs scoring two at five on five and York adding one of their own to send the two teams into the intermission at 2-1.

Western was first to strike on the night as Julian Cimadamore scored his first of the year 13 minutes in. York was quick to respond, however, getting a goal from Chad Hohmann three minutes later. Hohmann cleaned up a rebound in front of the Mustangs net for his third goal of the year.

Matt Clarke undid Hohmann's work just under a minute later, taking a nice breakaway pass from Adam Stoykewych and making no mistake, sliding the puck through the legs of the Lions' netminder. Clarke's goal—his 14th of the year—also saw Daniel Erlich register an assist, increasing his CIS-leading point total to 47 on the year.

Western came out strong in the second, with a big hit from David Corrente highlighting a number of nice plays to start to period. York goaltender Andrew Perugini responded with some strong play of his own, robbing a Western player with a stellar glove save less than three minutes into the frame.

The teams each found themselves short-handed twice in the period but once again they were unable to get anything going on the man-advantage. That theme continued through to the end of the game, as neither team was able to use capitalize on the power play.

"I thought our penalty kill did a real nice job tonight for us and came up big just like last night late in the game," Singer said post-game. "Power play struggled a little bit—I think York gave us a bit more pressure both on the forecheck and in zone then maybe we're used to."

"But our power play has been outstanding for us all year and especially the second half—they've done a great job. A bit of an off game but gives us a chance to get back and look at some film hopefully improve for our game Thursday."

Despite the lack of power play production, the Mustangs did use the opportunity to showcase their ability to score 5-on-5. In the third, Zach Harnden did just that, taking a feed from Reese down low and beating Perugini to put the Mustangs up by two.

The Lions looked like they did the same, finding the twine around the mid-way point of the third, but the goal was called back thanks to a slashing call to Jesse Messier—his second infraction of the game. Although the Mustangs didn't capitalize on the ensuing power play, that play would come back to haunt York as Unice refused to let another puck past him for the rest of the game.

Shutting down the Lions' offence wasn't any easy task though, as Unice was forced to make a number of nice saves in tight to keep his team on top. York controlled play in the Mustangs zone for the majority of the frame, firing 14 shots in total at the Mustangs netminder in the final frame to no avail.

Heading into the final week of the season, the Mustangs will travel to York on Thursday for a game at Canlan Ice Sports at 7:00 p.m. before returning home for a game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Brock. After the game, Singer was asked what his team is hoping to improve before OUA playoffs role around.

"Lots of little things," Singer responded. "The core of our improvement here in the second half has been our special teams and our defensive play—especially our defensive zone coverage so we'll put some emphasis on that."

"I thought York did a nice job tonight against us on faceoffs so we're gonna have to tidy up some of our d-zone faceoff plays. Just little things like that as we head into the final weekend," he added.

Notes

The Lions lived up to their special teams reputation, going 0-for-7 on the power play while killing off all seven of their own penalties. York's power play sits second-last in the league at 12.1% while their stellar penalty kill percentage of 87.5 has them at second overall.

The Mustangs penalty kill has been just as stellar lately, as their 7-for-7 performance on Saturday night makes them 46-for-50, or 92%, since the New Year. Western killed off 12 of 13 power plays during their back-to-back games this weekend.

Elsewhere in the OUA West, Lakehead blew an early lead to fall to the Brock Badgers 6-3 while Ryerson just barely squeaked out a win against Laurier, winning 3-2. Lakehead's loss ensures that the Mustangs will finish first in the OUA West and have home-ice advantage throughout the majority of the OUA playoffs.

Ryerson's Domenic Alberga and Jamie Wise both had a point in their team's win on Saturday but so did Erlich, ensuring that he'll stay three points ahead of them in the race for first in the OUA in points.