The Windsor Lancer men's hockey team were back in action on Friday night when they hosted the Brock Badgers and then again played host on Saturday afternoon to the RMC Paladins at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex.
 
The Lancers dropped a 3-2 decision to the Badgers on Friday before rebounding less than 24 hours later on Saturday with a 4-2 win over the Paladins at the CPRC before heading into the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend.
 
WEEKEND STATS
On Friday, Travis Hensrud scored his first OUA goal and Keegan McMullen also scored for the blue and gold.  Aaron Shaw, Johnny Ulicny, David Jesus, and Will Ennis each recorded an assist on the evening.  Nathan Torchia made 12 saves in the loss to Brock. 
 
On Saturday, McMullen scored again along with Brady Hinz, Kirk Mullen, and Dylan Schieves to secure the bounce back win over RMC on home ice.  Max Donoso turned aside 11 shots including on a penalty shot late in the game in helping his team earn the win over the Paladins in his first game played at home as a Windsor Lancer. 
 
FRIDAY GAME FLOW
The Badgers benefitted from Brock's Ethan Sims two goals which gave them an early 1-0 lead on the power play when Sims scored his first goal of the period at 2:20 before netting his second at the 17:39 mark of the opening period to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. 
 
At 4:31 of the second period, Hensrud would break the Badgers goaltender, Samuel Vyletelka, save streak and more importantly to him record his first goal as a Lancer to give the blue and gold life in the contest and cut the Brock lead down to one at 2-1. 
 
Then at the tail end of the second period, right around the buzzer and red light going on, it would come on one second early before the period expired when McMullen found the back of the net past Vyletelka to make it a 2-2 hockey game after 40 minutes of play at 19:59 of the second to bring the energy in the building up following the buzzer beater equalizing marker.
 
Both Torchia and Vyletelka would continue to shine throughout the start of the third period each goaltender looking to backstop their team to victory and stand strong in their respective creases at the CPRC.  The Lancers peppered Vyletelka with 9 shots in the third which the Slovak-born netminder turned aside between the Brock pipes. 
 
Special teams would play a difference down the stretch when Brock capitalized on a power play and found the game-winning goal staving off any extra time following regulation when Alexis Cournoyer scored and was the hero for the Badgers giving them back a one goal advantage and making it a 3-2 Brock lead. 
 
Despite a desperate effort by the Lancers to try and tie up the game again in the end they were unable to do so as Vyletelka stood tall and stonewalled the Lancers on their home ice to earn the visiting Brock Badgers a hard fought 3-2 win in Windsor serving the Lancers their second loss of the season on Friday night. 
 
SATURDAY GAME FLOW
The Lancers opened the scoring on the power play with a beauty backhand goal scored by Hinz to make it 1-0 at 6:02 in the first period.  Aaron Shaw and David Jesus drew assists on the Hinz goal.
 
The Lancer lead was then extended to two goals courtesy of McMullen's nice back hander of his own to make it 2-0 Windsor at 8:42 of the first period.  Hinz and Jesus provided the assists on McMullen's fourth goal of the season. 
 
A 3-0 lead then ensued at 13:54 of the opening period with Mullen's first of the season that made it a tripled lead on the Paladins and chased the RMC starting goaltender from the contest triggering a goalie switch in the Paladins net. 
 
RMC would regroup and respond before the period expired though with Fischer O'Brien scoring and making it a 3-1 contest at 15:12 of the first and that score held true on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Coming out of the first intermission both goalies stayed hot early in the period before a shorthanded rush by RMC's Noah Matulu at 9:56 of the second interrupted Donoso's save streak and made it a 3-2 hockey game with his unassisted shorthanded goal. 
 
The 3-2 score would remain intact throughout the duration of the second period and majority of the third period as a penalty shot that was awarded to RMC was stopped by Donoso would calmly and collectively turn it aside to preserve the one goal lead at home. 
 
Despite an extra attacker on the ice down the stretch, the Paladins failed to beat Donoso once more.  However, Schives would add an insurance goal from Ray Hamlin's pass which made its way uncontested into the empty RMC net at 19:46 of the third to seal the deal for the Lancers. 
 
With the recent win in Windsor, the Lancers now improve to 2-2 on the young season.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will next travel to East Lansing, Michigan on Friday October 18th, to take on the Michigan State Spartans in an exhibition at 6:00pm across the border before they resume their OUA regular season league play schedule again on Sunday October 20th when they will host the Toronto Varsity Blues for a 4:00pm puck drop at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex. 
 
Fans can purchase their tickets in advance at the link here or at the CPRC gate on game day.
 
Alternatively, fans can also tune into the Toronto vs Windsor game on oua.tv to catch the action live from outside the rink and follow our Windsor Lancers official social media pages including X (formerly Twitter) for live in-game updates throughout.