The No. 2 Western Mustangs defeated the No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves 4-2 Friday night at the Thompson Arena in London, Ont. to even their OUA Far West Division Finals at one game apiece. Western's goals came from Chris Rowan, Jamie Chamberlain, Mike Stathopoulos, and Justin Davis while Tyler Williamson and Jason Lange tallied for Lakehead. Lakehead outshot Western 31-25 in the game. The two teams have now split their six games this season and tomorrow's seventh meeting will be the true rubber match to decide the division champions, with the winner going on to the Queen's Cup next weekend in London. Even if the Mustangs lose Saturday, they are guaranteed at least one game as Queen's Cup host.
Western netminder Mike D'Alessandro was sharp in goal and Lakehead's Grant McCune also made some good stops. Lakehead went 0-7 on the powerplay while Western were 2-6 on their opportunities.
Lakehead's Tyler Williamson opened the scoring at 1:49, assisted by Murray Magill. Then the Mustangs took over and scored three goals in the first frame. Chris Rowan scored at 5:36 with a high backhander, assisted by Brad Yeo. Jamie Chamberlain scored on an excellent individual effort at 17:27, assisted by Ryan Held and Jamie Sokolski. Mike Stathopoulos tagged the third Stangs goal of the period at 19:35 with a two-man advantage, assisted by Sokolski and Jeff Martin.
Justin Davis scored the only goal of the second at 12:37 on a breakaway; a powerplay marker that beat Lakehead's McCune high to the glove side. The assist went to Stathopoulos. The period featured a great save by McCune off Western's Mike Rice on a breakaway and a lightning fast glove save by D'Alessandro to rob Lakehead's Jason Lange.
Lange finally broke through D'Alessandro's defense at 3:20 of the third, assisted by Robert Hillier and Mike Wehrstedt. But, D'Alessandro closed the door on the Wolves for the rest of the game to give the Mustangs the victory.
The two teams take to the ice Saturday night at 7:35 at the Thompson Arena for the deciding game in what has been a very thrilling series.
In other Friday OUA playoff action, Toronto defeated Queen's 5-3 to win their Mid-East Division playoff 2-0. Ottawa beat UQTR 8-1 to even their Far-East series 1-1. York defeated Laurier Thursday night for a 1-0 lead in the Mid-West Division finals. The Ottawa/UQTR series and the York/Laurier series continue Sunday.