Scott McEwen
LANCE WRITER


The Lancers Men’s Hockey team earned back-to-back wins on the road this past weekend, defeating Western 5-4 Saturday and Brock 4-1 Friday. Saturday, the Lancers beat the nationally sixth-ranked Western Mustangsat Thompson Recreation and Athletic Centre in London, Ont.

Playing with a short bench, Lancers head coach Kevin Hamlin told his men to, “Come out with lots of energy and win the battles in the dirty areas, along the walls and in front of the net.”

And that’s exactly what they did, scoring in the first eight minutes of the first period. D.J. Turner put the puck in the net with a wraparound goal on Western’s John Cullen to set them ahead 1-0.

The Mustangs answered back with Western’s Adam Stoykewych scoring off a faceoff draw at 9:43 in the first.

Spencer Pommels sent the Lancers into the locker room with a 2-1 lead over the Mustangs. Pommels took a shot from the slot and the puck found its way into the top right hand corner.

Two minutes into the second period, Western’s Zach Harnden evened the score 2-2. Harden scored off a rebound, putting it through Windsor goalie Parker Van Buskirk’s five-hole. The Lancers again took the lead when Brett Oliphant scored his first goal of the season in the remaining minutes of the second period with four seconds left in a power play.

The Mustangs, who were constantly playing catch up with the Lancers, answered back not 10 seconds later. Matt Clarke scored from the point with 3:14 seconds left in the second period to tie the game 3-3. It was Western’s first power play goal of the season.

Determination was the key factor for the Lancers to keep pushing ahead. “Our guys were pretty determined this week, after not playing our best last weekend,” Hamlin said.

Two goals were scored in the opening 50 seconds of the third period. D.J Turner scored his second goal of the game, receiving a spin-o-rama pass from Pommels and putting the Lancers back in front 4-3. Just 17 seconds later, Western’s Matt Marantz crashed the net and put one past Van Buskirk to tie it up 4-4.

The Lancers took advantage of their opportunities and scored on the power play once again. Steve Ferry found the back of the net with 8:28 left in the third, off of a one timer set up by teammate Evan Stibbard. Ferry’s goal sealed the deal as the game winner, as Windsor fought off Western’s last desperate attempt, pulling their goalie for the final two minutes of the game.

“It would have been very easy for our depleted line up to fail and they didn’t,” Hamlin said.

A day earlier, Lancer Matt Murphy had the win in net for the Lancers victory over the Badgers. Matt Beaudion, Myles Doan, Turner and Brett Vandehogen scored singles.

The Lancers, now 3-1 on the season, look to the weekend as they host Laurier Friday at Windsor Arena and are at Waterloo Saturday. Games are at 7:30 p.m.