Box Score TORONTO- The Windsor Lancers men's hockey team drew first blood in their OUA West quarter-final match-up with the Toronto Varsity Blues in the provincial capital on Thursday night, winning Game 1 by a score of 3-2 at Varsity Arena.

Saverio Posa picked up a game-high two points in helping the fourth-seeded Lancers to a 1-0 series lead over the fifth-seed Varsity Blues. Windsor has an opportunity to sweep the best-of-three series on Saturday evening at South Windsor Arena and move on to the West semifinals. 

The Lancers controlled the majority of the play throughout the first 20 minutes of the contest, firing 18 shots at Blues goaltender Brett Willows. Some good fore-checking early on from Windsor put the hosts in penalty trouble and the Lancers were able to connect on their second man-advantage of the opening stanza. Kenny Bradford one-timed a blue-line pass from Posa past the blocking arm of Willows at the 10:50 mark to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The men looked to quickly double their spread minutes later, as Evan Stibbard had a wide open cage off a Blues rebound in front. However, his low shot from just outside the crease grazed off the post, keeping it a one-goal game.

Windsor continued to pour on the offence in the final minutes of the period, but Willows was up to the task, keeping Toronto within a goal heading into the second.

The Varsity Blues earned a power-play chance early in the middle frame and connected to even the contest 1-1 on Toronto captain Blake Boddy's first of the post-season.

The Lancers once again took control of the game soon after, as much of the play stayed in Toronto's end of the ice in the second. Some continued strong goaltending by Willows kept the score tied up to the final minute of the period. However, a loose puck in the Blues slot was scooped up by Matt Beaudoin who fired it into the top right corner with just 25 seconds left in the second, and Windsor re-took its one goal lead heading into the third period.

Windsor would extend the advantage a quarter of the way into the third, as Mike Christoue broke away on a short-handed 2-on-1 and arced a pass over the Toronto defender's stick to Saverio Posa for the tap-in to give the visitors a two-goal buffer.

After coming within a goal once again midway through the period, the Varsity Blues nearly tied the game on a hard point shot. However, Parker Van Buskirk flashed the leather, making an incredible glove save to keep the Lancers ahead.

The Windsor native stood tall throughout the latter half of the third, making an important positional save off a deflection from a point shot in the final minute of play to preserve the victory. Van Buskirk turned aside a total of 25 shots for the win, while Willows stopped 44 in a losing cause.

The Lancers will look to sweep the best-of-three series on Saturday evening at South Windsor Arena in Game 2. Puck-drop is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be available live online at GoLancers.TV.