LONDON, Ont. – Two goals each from Cordell James and Ray Huether led the Western Mustangs to their seventh straight win with a 6-2 victory over the the Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"We just want to keep playing the way we've been playing," said James, "we've been beating good teams and if we keep rolling like this going into the playoffs I think we will be a tough team to beat."
 
The win gives the Mustangs an 11-9-2 record, keeping them undefeated in 2018, and moves them past Lakehead for sixth in the OUA West standings. Laurier has a 13-7-3 record following the loss, and are currently tied for third place with York after the Ryerson Rams jumped into second with an overtime victory over the Brock Badgers on Wednesday night.
 
James and Huether were joined by Mitchell Fitzmorris and Anthony Stefano in putting up goals for the Mustangs. James' two goals from tonight's game move him in a three way tie for second on the team with seven goals alongside Stefano and Kyle Pettit.
 
"We need those veterans to chip in offensively as well," said assistant coach Patrick Ouellet. "Big comeback for Cordell, playing his first game back since the Christmas break, so a great effort by those guys."
 
The purple and white dominated the first period, taking the lead less than a minute in with tip-in goal from James.
 
Huether extended that lead to 2-0 early in the second, scoring on a shot from the blue line a little less than three minutes into the frame.
 
James then tallied his second goal of the night midway through the period, scoring on a bad angle shot from around the goalline to give the home side a three-goal lead.
 
Neil Arid cut into that lead just over two minutes into the third, converting assists from Christian Mroczkowski and Kyle Jenkins to pull the Golden Hawks to within two.
 
Western didn't wait long to respond, with Fitzmorris scoring his second of the season only 36 seconds later to make it 4-1 for the purple and white.
 
The Mustangs would go on to add two more insurance markers in the frame off goals from Stefano and Huether. Matt Franczyk rounded out the scoring for Laurier to make it a 6-2 final in favour of the Mustangs.
 
Although the team is currently in the midst of their longest winning streak of the season, the Mustangs are trying to keep approach things on a game-by-game basis.
 
"We've got to throw these back behind us," said Huether. "Next game starts 0-0, we've got to come out and just play like we are and we should be alright."
 
The Mustangs will be back in action at home this Saturday, January 27th, against the Brock Badgers at Thompson Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv