Windsor, ON – With a two game sweep of the Lakehead Thunderwolves, the No. 8 Lancer men's hockey team has advanced to the OUA West division finals for the fourth consecutive year.
 
The Lancers secured their spot in the division final with a 6-3 win over the Thunderwolves in game two of the best of three series on Saturday night at South Windsor Arena. Windsor defeated Lakehead 4-3 in game one on Wednesday in Thunder Bay.
 
Lakehead drew first blood when Jake Carrick flipped the puck over Windsor goalie Parker Van Buskirk's shoulder at 13:07 of the opening period, but the Lancers responded with two goals less than a minute apart shortly after.
 
Ryan Green evened the score by beating Wolves' netminder Justin McDonald low on the glove side at 16:59, and then Windsor took a 2-1 lead on a goal that deflected in off the skate of Eric Noel with just over two minutes remaining in the opening period.
 
Windsor extended its lead to 3-1 at the seven-minute mark of the second when Drew Palmer shoveled his own rebound past McDonald while the Lancers had the man-advantage.
 
The Wolves would not go away quietly however, when Carrick beat Van Buskirk top-shelf at 17:08 of the middle stanza, the Lancers' margin was cut to 3-2 heading into the third.
 
Noel broke in alone on McDonald and beat him on the far side at 6:27 of the final frame to put the Lancers up by two goals, but Jay Gilbert quickly replied for Lakehead with a shot that got by Van Buskirk through the five-hole a minute later to bring the Thunderwolves back to within one.
 
With the Wolves on the verge of elimination, they pulled McDonald from the net for an extra attacker with just under two minutes remaining, but empty netters by Spencer Pommells and Sebastian Beauregard iced the game for the Lancers.
 
Lakehead narrowly outshot Windsor 32-31 in the contest.
 
The west division finals best of three series will be played out between Wednesday-Sunday this week and the Lancers will face the winner of the Guelph-Toronto series. Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for playoff information as it becomes available.