The Windsor Lancers Men's Hockey team dropped a 4-1 decision on Thursday night in game one of their OUA quarter-final playoff series with the Western Mustangs in London.

 

The loss puts Windsor down 0-1 to the Mustangs heading into game two on Friday night at Windsor Arena.

 

On Thursday night, both teams battled hard in the opening twenty minutes as they established a quick pace and a physical contest. The first period saw straight five on five hockey as the first penalty of the game wasn't handed out until the final three seconds of the period.

 

In the opening frame, Western's Steven Reese scored his first of the playoffs on a pass from Chris Corbeil and Jason Furlong to give the Mustangs a one goal lead after the first period of play.

 

Reese scored his second of the game on a broken play by Windsor just two minutes into the second to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

 

Back-and-forth play continued as Windsor was called for three infractions and Western for two. On the man-advantage, the Mustangs pressured the Lancers and a scrum in front of the net ensued. Both teams tried to get their stick on the puck and after at least four whacks, Western prevailed to increase their lead by three.

 

Starting the final period short handed, the Lancers came out flying, as they scored just twelve seconds into the period. Windsor got the puck deep into the Mustangs end off of the first face-off and Kyle Nishizaki took a pass from Scott Gillis to bury the puck behind Western goaltender Anthony Greico.
 

After a Windsor time-out, the Lancers pulled goaltender Jim Watt to add the extra man. The attempt failed as the Mustangs' Julian Cimadamore slid the puck into the empty net for the 4-1 win.

 

Watt made 36 saves in net for Windsor, while Greico had 31 for Western.

 

Windsor will look to rebound tomorrow night as they host game two of the best of three series at Windsor Arena at 7:30pm. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth/seniors/students.