The Lancer men's hockey team lost their second consecutive game to the Western Mustangs in a 4-3 loss in London on Friday night.

 

With the loss the Lancers are now 11-12-3 on the season, and have slipped into 8^th place in the OUA West.

 

Windsor scored the first goal of the evening on the powerplay as Tom Craig took a shot from the point that beat a screened Josh Unice.

 

Less than three minutes later, the Mustangs countered the Lancer's point with a powerplay goal of their own. Adam Nemeth threaded a pass across the blueline to Matt Paltridge who hit Josh McQuade with a pass at the top of the slot. McQuade walked down low and wristed a shot past Frank Dayus' left pad.

 

Steve Reese started the play for Western's second goal as he banked a pass off the boards to linemate Jason Furlong. Furlong kicked the pass up onto his stick and stepped around the Windsor defender, firing a shot on Dayus who stopped the initial shot. Furlong grabbed his own and put the Mustangs up 2-1.

 

The Lancers capitalized as a high shot deflected off the glass behind the net and bounced out in front of Western's net. Matt McCready slipped the loose puck in behind Unice for a 2-2 tie.

 

Reese scored Western's go-ahead goal late in the first period as he tipped Nemeth's shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

 

Despite a high-scoring first period, the second period yielded back-and-forth play with both goalies holding their ground.

 

With just over five minutes remaining in the second, Unice headed to the bench with an equipment malfunction. Goaltender Jared Richmond made his first appearance as a Mustang and made three key saves, but the Lancers found the back of the net with 43 seconds left on the clock as Western got caught on a bad line change. Unice returned to goal to finish the rest of the game.

 

The Mustangs regained the lead with less than five minutes left in the game with a tic-tac-toe play. Adam Mckee battled the puck loose and made a cross-ice pass to McQuade. McQuade set Kyle Lamb up right in front of the net who he one-timed the puck past Dayus for a 4-3 lead.

 

The Lancers will now return home for their final regular season game on Saturday night against the Brock Badgers. Prior to the 7:30pm face-off, the Lancers will honour their graduating players in a pre-game ceremony.