The Windsor Lancer men's hockey team played their final two games on the 2023 calendar year to close out the fall semester action prior to going into the fall exam period and holiday break.
 
The Lancers split the weekend with a 5-2 road loss on Friday night in London to the Western Mustangs while on Sunday evening they were able to bounce back with a 5-2 home win over the York Lions at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex in Windsor to round out their final game of the fall on a winning note heading into the break.
 
FRIDAY STATS
Jake Durham and Brady Hinz were the goal scorers for the Lancers in the Friday night loss to the Mustangs. 
 
Mason Kohn, Hunter Holmes, and Holden Wale each had an assist on the two Lancer tallies on Friday.
 
Meanwhile between the pipes, Nathan Torchia made 15 saves in the loss to Western. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
The first period remained scoreless up until late in the first frame when Western opened the scoring at 17:13 with Andrew Bruder's goal to put the Mustangs up 1-0.
 
The Lancers would be shorthanded early in the second period when Western's Shane Bulitka scored to make it a 2-0 game on the power play at 2:32 into the middle period.
 
Shortly after the second Mustang marker, the Lancers were able to respond to cut the Western lead in half when the visitors scored at 5:41 with Durham's first goal of the weekend to make it a 2-1 game from Kohn and Holmes helpers on the first blue and gold goal.
 
The hosts would score again later in the period at 12:56 when Josh Leblanc scored and restored Western's two-goal lead on the Lancers who then trailed 3-1 in the contest.
 
The purple and white would add another goal that got through on the blue and gold's net late in the second period when Western's Christiano Aiello scored at 19:02 to make it a 4-1 Lancer deficit to the Mustangs. 
 
In the third period, Windsor would respond on the power play early when Hinz was able to beat Western's goaltender Dylan Myskiw with a shot that again cut the Western lead in half then sitting at 4-2 Mustangs.
 
The Mustangs would grab an insurance goal not long after at 3:59 of the third when Leblanc netted his second of the game to all but seal the deal for the Western Mustangs with a 5-2 lead that held firm until the end when it became the final score in London.
 
SUNDAY STATS
Aaron Shaw scored twice and had an assist for a three-point performance that led the way for the blue and gold in the victory over York while David Jesus, Jacob Boucher, and Durham each had the other Lancer markers during Sunday's win in Windsor.
 
Dakota Lund-Cornish made 20 saves in the win over the Lions to claim the final win of the 2023 calendar year on home ice.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SUNDAY
York's Brock McLeod opened the scoring for the Lions at 14:22 to make it a 1-0 lead for the visiting Lions over the hometown Lancers.
 
The blue and gold would respond to the red and white's goal roughly five minutes later and within the dying seconds of the first period as Jesus was able to blast one into the York net before the buzzer went for the first intermission at 19:56 to make it a 1-1 tie.
 
Upon return from the first intermission the Lancers continued to swarm the York net fishing for an opportunity to score a go-ahead goal which they were able to find at 3:49 when Boucher scored past the Lions netminder Matt Tovell to make it a 2-1 Lancer lead.
 
The Lancers would find themselves on the power play at 7:08 of the second when Shaw would cash in on his first goal of the night and make it a 3-1 Lancer lead.  Shaw would find his second goal of the game just over five minutes after his first goal to make it a 4-1 game in favour of the Lancers at 12:23 of the second period. 
 
After the four unanswered Lancer markers, the Lions found a way to roar back and respond with Windsor native Michael Douglas scoring at 14:15 of the second frame to make it a 4-2 hockey game. 
 
Durham would get the insurance marker for the Lancers and lone goal of the third period at 13:27 after a flurry of goals coming in the second period to allow Windsor to earn the win in Windsor with a 5-2 score over York.  With the win the Lancers wrapped up the 2023 portion of the 2023-24 regular season and win their eighth game of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now be on break for fall semester exams and the upcoming holiday season later this month and will resume action in January when the new year is upon them.
 
The Lancers will start off 2024 in Quebec as on Friday January 5th there will be a rematch of the 2023 Queen's Cup Finals which will commence against the UQTR Patriotes in Trois Rivieres at 7:00pm before heading to Montreal to take on the McGill Redbirds on Saturday January 6th at 3:00pm.
 
The Windsor Lancers wishes the members of the men's hockey team all the best with their upcoming exams and would also like to wish all the Lancer family a happy and healthy holiday season and are looking forward to seeing action resume in 2024!