The Windsor Lancer men's hockey team defeated the Nipissing Lakers in two outings this weekend during their first homestand of the 2023-24 OUA regular season.
 
On Friday the Lancers doubled up the Lakers 4-2 at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex in front of a good home crowd on hand for the Friday the Thirteenth thriller.
 
Meanwhile on Saturday the Lancers were able to take care of business once again against the visiting Lakers out of North Bay who were once more defeated by the blue and gold this time 4-1. This was the first time both teams did battle in the regular season since dating back to 2016. 
 
FRIDAY STATS
Grant Spence, Brady Hinz, Jake Durham, and Aaron Shaw each had a goal during Friday's victorious home outing. 
 
David Jesus, Holden Wale, Mason Kohn and Lancer goaltender Nathan Torchia all picked up an assist on the Lancer quartet of goals. 
 
Torchia also stood tall in the Lancer crease putting up an impressive 24-save performance between the pipes for the blue and gold.
 
SATUDAY STATS
The Lancer goal scorers on were Hinz, Kohn, Jacob Boucher, and Ty Toews who had his first OUA goal as a Windsor Lancer in Saturday's victory.
 
Keegan McMullen had two assists which helped the Lancer scorers on Saturday while Dylan Shives, Nic Pavia, Matt McNamara, Durham, and Toews all had helpers as well.
 
Torchia put up another outstanding effort in securing a Lancer victory with a whopping 42 save performance. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
The Lancers skated out confidently in their home opener determined to not allow a delayed start due to a technical issue inside the arena deter them from their focused winning mindset on home ice.
 
Spence got on the board at 7:01 in the first period notching an unassisted marker and first Lancer home goal of the season past Nipissing's goaltender Zach Roy to put the Lancers up 1-0. 
 
Shortly after the Lancers got on the board with a goal early, they were eagerly looking to quickly add another on a powerplay opportunity that came.  They were successful in doing so when Hinz found the back of the Lakers net past Roy after the puck received a couple of touches from the sticks of Jesus and Wale to give the Lancers a 2-0 lead.
 
Later in the first frame, Nipissing would respond as they were not wanting to end the first period quietly as Reilly Mayne would score on a shorthanded rush which beat Torchia and cut the Lancer lead in half down to one goal at 16:17 in the first. 
 
Before the period expired, Durham ensured the Lancers would stay on top by two goals when he scored off a pass from Kohn to restore the Windsor two-goal lead making it 3-1 at 19:07 in the first which stood firm heading into the first intermission.
 
The second period was scoreless despite both goaltenders showcasing their puck stopping skills on both teams traded opportunities.  Neither goalie was beat in the second and the score stayed the same headed into the third period.
 
In the final period of regulation play, the Lakers would find a way to get another puck past Torchia and in the Lancer net at the 8:05 mark when Harrison Caines scored to make the game more interesting for the fans to observe at 3-2 still in favour of Windsor. 
 
Despite the Lakers valiant late game efforts trying to initiate an extra period for overtime, the Lancers found another player with a spark to all but put away this contest.  When Lancer forward Shaw received a pass from his netminder at 10:39 he was able to snipe in the insurance goal needed to seal the deal and cap off the first game of the weekend in 4-2 winning fashion. 
 
The Lancers would go on to hold on and take the first game of the weekend series 4-2.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
The Lancers broke the ice early when Hinz managed to squeak by his second powerplay goal of the weekend at 15:29 of the opening period past Nipissing's netminder Reece Proulx to put the blue and gold up 1-0.
 
The 1-0 lead the Lancers would keep until midway through the second period when they found the back of the Nipissing net again this time from a shot coming off the stick of Boucher who put Windsor up 2-0 at the 7:01 mark of the second frame. The Lancers would remain up by a pair after two periods looking poised heading into the final period of regulation play.
 
However, despite a strong start to the third period, Charlie Johnson would respond on the powerplay for the Lakers at 6:22 of the third to slash the Lancer lead in half to 2-1.
The Lakers hopes of rebounding and potentially splitting the weekend suffered a quick pair devasting blows when first Toews scored his first Lancer goal putting the Lancers back up by two goals and making the match 3-1 at the 15:36 mark of the third.
 
Less than a minute later Kohn put the icing on the cake when he recorded his goal and put the Lancers up by three to polish off the home opener weekend with 4-1 lead at the 16:29 mark which the blue and gold were ultimately able to hold onto thanks to Torchia's strong play in guarding the Lancer net and not allowing the blue and green uniformed Lakers any more chances to score. 
 
With the pair of wins on the weekend over Nipissing, the Lancers now improve to a 3-1 record on the year.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now have a bye week next weekend and will have extra time to rest and prepare to host their next two Ottawa-based opponents who will make the trip down to Windsor from the nation's capital.
 
On Friday October 27th the Lancers will take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex with puck drop scheduled for 7:30pm.  While on Saturday October 28th the Lancers will be back it again but will take on the Carleton Ravens at 4:00pm at the CPRC.
 
Tickets are available for purchase in advance here at golancers.ca or can be purchased at the admission gate upon entry to the CPRC. Fans can also catch the game from outside the rink which will stream live on OUA.tv on both upcoming game days and all season long.