LONDON, Ont.- Despite being outshot 41-21, the Western Mustangs were able to defeat the Lakehead Thunderwolves 7-4 and improve to 21-2-3 on the season Saturday night at Thompson Arena. Three-point performances by Keaton Turkiewicz, Zach Harnden and Andrew Eastman paced the Mustangs.

Western was off to a good start as they earned a 2-0 lead midway through the first period with goals by Harnden and Yashar Farmanara. Assists were given to Eastman and Steve Reese.

Lakehead’s Matt Caria pulled his team to within one a few minutes later but Turkiewicz from Harnden and Kevin Baker restored the two goal lead with only 13 seconds left in the period.

Neither team was able to capitalize on the powerplay in the opening frame despite the numerous opportunities that were given as a result of a physical first twenty minutes.

Both teams exchanged goals twice in the second period.

Lakehead got goals from Trevor Gamache and Brennan Menard while assists were given to Gamache and Mike Hammond, earning two.

Western’s Jason Furlong and Reese earned second period tallies, while Farmanara, Eastman, Turkiewicz and Baker all were credited with assists.

Both Mustangs goals were scored with special teams, once on the powerplay and the 5^th goal of the night being scored while shorthanded.

Western lead 5-3 heading into the second intermission.

The Thunderwolves pulled to within one once again at 9:53 of the third. Andrew Wilkins from Mitch Fillman and Menard gave Western a bit of a scare as the momentum began to build in Lakehead’s favour .

Despite being dominated in the third period, Turkiewicz and Harnden were able to both score goals 28 seconds apart to put the game out of Lakehead’s reach. Eastman earned his third assist of the night on Harnden’s hard-nosed second goal of the game.

The Mustangs return to action February 9^th when they travel to face the UOIT Ridgebacks with a scheduled 7:30 PM puck drop. Western’s next home game is February 11^th as they play host to the York Lions, puck drops at 7:35 PM at Thompson Arena. For tickets to the Mustangs final game of the regular season, please go to http://westernmustangstickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/category.asp?id=83.