The Windsor Lancers men's hockey team wrapped up their 2022-23 regular season with a visit to London to take on the Western Mustangs at Thompson Arena.
 
The Mustangs bested the Lancers 5-3 on Saturday afternoon as the blue and gold were unable to complete a late-game comeback effort down the stretch falling to the Mustangs by a pair.
 
With the loss, the No. 8 Lancers finish the season with an 18-6-3 record and a second place finish in the OUA west division.
 
STATS
Sean Olson led the way offensively for the Lancers scoring a goal and earning an assist.
 
While Matt McNamara also picked up two points with a pair of assists in the loss to the Lancers 401 West rivals.
 
Nathan Torchia made 35 saves in the loss while his counterpart over in the Western crease Dylan Myskiw stopped 34 shots faced by blue and gold shooters backstopping his team to victory over the visitors.
 
Leading the way for the Mustangs offensively was Shane Bulitka who scored two goals along with the playmaking of Eric Van Impe who set up his teammates three times in the successful outing over the Lancers for the Saturday afternoon battle.
 
GAME FLOW
The first period saw the Western Mustangs come firing out of the gate opening the scoring at the 2:13 mark of the first frame when Bulitka scored his eighth goal of the season to put the home team up 1-0. 
 
The second Western goal came less than four minutes later when at 6:06 Sean Montgomery put his fifteenth goal of the season behind Torchia to extend the Mustangs lead to 2-0 early in the first.
 
Windsor would have to find a way to respond to avoid going down two heading into the second period and were able to rise to the occasion at the 16:05 mark when Aaron Shaw found the back of the net for his first of the season from Olson to cut the Mustangs lead in half and the Lancer deficit down to one goal at 2-1.
 
The Lancers remained resilient to close out the period in a gridlock score of 2-2 when within the final minute of first period play Grant Spence was able to notch in his ninth of the year at 19:02 to send the teams off to the dressing rooms deadlocked at two goals apiece.
 
The second period saw less scoring as both goaltenders stood their grounds in guarding their territories with authority.  That was the case until the 11:51 mark when Jack York was able to beat Torchia in the slot on the power play to put Western up by a goal once again at 3-2.
 
No other goals would come in the second period but in the third period the Mustangs were back on the power play and would see Bulitka strike again netting his ninth of the season at the 9:44 mark of the final frame to put them up by double yet again this time at 4-2. 
 
With time waning down in regulation play, the desperate Lancers needed to capitalize on a power play opportunity and found a way to score again with an extra man on the special team play as at 12:52 when Olson popped in his ninth of the season getting one by Myskiw from McNamara and Matt Dorsey to make the game interesting at 4-3 Mustangs. 
 
However, despite the later game comeback attempt, the Mustangs would savour the opportunity to score one more time into an empty Lancer net as at 18:59 Riley Macrae sealed the deal for Western to win 5-3 on home ice in what was their Senior's Day Game. 
 
With the loss the Lancers close out the OUA regular season with an overall record of 18-6-3-0 and sit second in the OUA West behind the Lakehead Thunderwolves who clinched the division with the Lancers loss in regulation to the Mustangs.
 
The Mustangs currently sit in seventh place rounding out their season with an 11-11-5-0 record.  Potentially as it stands, these two teams could face off against each other in an upcoming playoff series if things are to remain as such before the playoff bracket is set.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now head back home to Windsor and now shift their focus to their upcoming playoff match up that is yet to be determined.  With a second place finish in the west division, the Lancers receive a bye in the first round, and will face the highest remaining seed after the west division quarter-finals. Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for playoff information as it becomes available.