WINDSOR, Ont.- The Windsor Lancers men's hockey team opens its OUA West division final against the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Thursday evening at South Windsor Arena.

Tickets are being pre-sold for a final day at the St. Denis Centre on Thursday afternoon from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The CIS No. 9 ranked Lancers come into the best-of-three series after eliminating the rival Western Mustangs in three games last week.

The Lancers surrendered a two-goal lead in Game 1 against Western, falling 3-2 to open the second-round series. However, after a solid 3-1 victory at South Windsor Arena last Saturday to force a deciding Game 3, the Lancers jumped all over the Mustangs in the middle frame of Sunday night's rubber match in London, Ont., scoring three goals in a 6:27 span.

That was more than enough for the men and standout goalie Parker Van Buskirk, who is putting together another formidable post-season campaign in guiding the Lancers to their third-straight division finals.

The hometown native, who made 36 saves in Sunday night's 3-1 win, is having a sparkling playoff run. In five games between the pipes, Van Buskirk garners a 1.80 goals-against average and a strong .950 save-percentage. The criminology major has faced more shots than any of his three remaining peers left in the Queen's Cup race,  and has improved upon his stellar 2012-13 post-season numbers (six games played, 1.91 goals-against average, .937 save percentage).

Offensively, Windsor has used a balanced attack to get through the first two rounds of the playoffs, as 10 different Lancers have found the back of the net over the last five games. Matt Beaudoin leads the pack with three goals thus far, while Mike Christou, Mac McDonnell, Spencer Pommells and Saverio Posa each have a pair. Christou's snipe from the deep slot was the series-clincher on Sunday against the Mustangs, while Posa slotted the winner one night earlier to help force Game 3.

Veteran forwards Derek Lanoue and Evan Stibbard lead the men with five points each in the playoffs.

Windsor will face off against a Thunderwolves squad that has blown through its competition thus far, going 4-0 to start their OUA playoff journey and outscoring opponents 21-5 over the first two rounds of the playoffs. Lakehead was particularly dominant in the division semi-finals, running over Ryerson 7-0 and 5-1 to earn a berth in the West finals for the first time since 2009-10 when they advanced to the Queen's Cup and lost to McGill.

Rookie Cody Alcock leads all post-season skaters with six goals and nine points in four games played. Thunderwolves net minder Jeff Bosch garners a 1.41 goals-against average and .962 save percentage in four playoff victories.

The teams met for a regular season weekend series at South Windsor Arena on January 24 and 25. The Thunderwolves topped Windsor 2-1 in the first game of the weekend, but the Lancers rallied for a 3-0 shutout win the following night to split the season series.

The division rivals will battle for a spot in the Queen's Cup as well as the CIS PotashCorp University Cup, presented by Co-op, taking place at the University of Saskatchewan from March 20-23.

Game 1 gets underway Thursday evening with puck-drop set for 7:30 p.m. at South Windsor Arena. The contest will be available live at GoLancers.TV.

Game 2 of the OUA West finals takes place in Thunder Bay, Ont. this Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. Game 3 (if necessary) will also take place at Lakehead the following evening at 7:30 p.m.