The Lancer men's hockey team came home with a 4-3 win over the Nipissing Lakers on Friday afternoon at South Windsor Arena in their first game of a weekend doubleheader.
 
The win moves the Lancers to third place in the OUA west division with a 9-6-2 record, while the Lakers fall to 5-10-1 and sit in 9th in the east division.
 
The Lancers, in partnership with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board and Cypher Systems Group, hosted the Lakers in front of local students from around the region who were bused in especially for the game. The event supported the team's "Lancers against Bullying" annual campaign geared towards Windsor-Essex students.
 
The Lancers got off to a quick start when Justice Dundas got a breakaway pass from Tyson Ness and slid the puck between the legs of Lakers goaltender Domenic Graham at 6:14 of the period.
 
Seven minutes later, Windsor doubled their lead when Scott Prier came flying into the offensive zone and ripped a shot into the back of the net behind Graham. Windsor led 2-0 heading into first intermission
 
Nipissing cut the Lancer lead in half just under five minutes into the second period with a goal by Danny Desrochers. Brett Jefferies was credited with the assist.
 
Windsor then took full advantage of a 5-minute power play midway through the period. Dundas scored his second of the game before Julian Luciani notched his fourth of the year to put the Lancers up 4-1 heading into the third period.
 
Nipissing scored two quick goals to open the third and make it a one goal game with 14 minutes left to play. Dylan Staples opened the scoring at 1:58 of the period and was followed by Taylor Davis' second of the season five minutes later.
 
Kris Joyce was solid in net for the Blue & Gold stopping a number of key saves in the final minutes when the Lakers pulled Graham in favour of an extra attacker to solidify the win. The first year goaltender finished the game with 15 saves to earn the win, while Graham closed out the day with 22.
 
These two teams will face off again tomorrow afternoon at South Windsor Arena. The puck drops at 4:00pm and can be seen live at www.oua.tv.