LONDON, Ont. – Friday the thirteenth may be considered an unlucky omen by some but it's safe to say you can cross the Mustangs off of that list.
 
Western used the occasion as an opportunity to add to Lakehead's tough luck this season, handing the Thunderwolves their 10th straight loss with a 7-5 victory at Thompson Arena.
 
"Any time you come up against one of your big rivals like Lakehead and are able to come away with four points you're happy," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer. "Great effort again tonight, maybe not the score we anticipated to start the game but nonetheless I thought we did a lot of real good things and they got a couple bounces here and there."
 
For the second straight night Lakehead pushed late only to leave the rink without a win. This time, they were sunk by Western's four-goal second period, highlighted by a marker from Cole Benson 13 seconds in and another from David Corrente with 13:00 on the clock.
 
Having two straight goals fall on 13s is an event that's bound to interest those who are superstitious.  But even for those who aren't, like Benson, it was still a bit of an odd coincidence.
 
"That's a good pick-up because I had no idea that even happened," Benson said with a laugh when asked about the prevalence of the number 13 in the game. "I don't really have any superstitions so I don't really have anything in my way. If something doesn't go right it's not because of a superstition."
 
But things went right nonetheless, and Benson was one of five Mustangs to finish the night with multiple points. Defenceman Alex Micallef was one of those players, adding two helpers after registering two points on Thursday. He now has 10 points through 11 games and is quickly becoming the poster boy for a defensive core that's providing key offence.
 
"It's something that we talked about after the end of last season," said Singer about getting offence from the defence. "I think our highest scoring defenceman last year was Matt Paltridge, I think he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points and that's just not enough in this league if you look at a lot of the best teams.
 
"That's something we've wanted to improve and we've talked about it a lot and so far so good."
 
Micallef's first assist came on the game's opening goal from Shaun Furlong, who was quick to get back on the score sheet a night after turning in a natural hat trick. Ray Huether also scored in the first before Benson, Corrente, and rookie Spenser Cobbold scored consecutively in the second period to give Western a 5-1 lead.
 
At that point it looked like it would be an easy ride for Western the rest of the way, but Lakehead wasn't about to let that happen. The Thunderwolves scored two late goals in the second and were threatening for a third before Trevor Warnaar gave Western back a three goal lead with 29 seconds left.
 
The Thunderwolves would get two goals in the third, from Dylan Butler and Austin McDonald, but a power play goal from Andrew Goldberg made sure that the Mustangs would come out on top. Still, Friday night was just another example of a solid effort from Lakehead in what's been a tough-luck season.
 
"They haven't had it easy because they've had to play the top three teams in their first six games," said Benson. "So that definitely hurts their record but also I think for the rest of the season going on now their going to have better chances because they won't have to play as strong of teams."
 
As for Western's play, Benson had a few suggestions for things they could improve on.
 
"Right now, I'd say our weaknesses including this weekend were that we've been letting in way too many goals against," he said. "We've been scoring a lot so that's been alright but once we play tougher teams we can't let as many goals against because it's just going to hurt us in the end."
 
They'll face one of those teams next weekend, when they come up against the Queen's Gaels at Thompson Arena. But Singer doesn't think the team has to prepare any differently than they have all season.
 
"Every single team in our league regardless of their record is a tough opponent," said Singer. "There's unbelievable parity right throughout the league and Lakehead is a lot better team than their record, they showed that in their performance this weekend.
 
"We'll just get back to the drawing board on Monday and keep working at the plan and hopefully have a couple of good games next week."
 
NOTES: With a goal and an assist, Cobbold put together his second multi-point effort in the last three games. He now has nine assists and 11 points in 11 games…. Western gave a power play goal for the fourth straight game, but they also got their first shorthanded marker of the season on Corrente's goal…