LONDON, Ont. – Clarke Singer isn't known to tip his hand.
 
The even-keeled coach, in his sixteenth year behind the bench for the Mustangs, never seems to get too excited or too down in the midst of a season and his post-game interview Thursday night was no different.
 
Fresh off of watching his team beat the Toronto Varsity Blues 3-2 at Thompson Arena for their fourth straight win, Singer admitted that things are beginning to go Western's way again after a rough end to 2015. But he wasn't willing to say that his team is turning a corner.
 
"I thought right through the stretch we were playing pretty good," he said, referring to the period in November and December that saw Western go 1-5-0. "It's kind of like the power play: you do some good things but you're not rewarded. Even earlier in the year when we were on a good stretch we maybe won some games we shouldn't have and even during that losing streak I thought we lost some games we maybe shouldn't have."
 
Western certainly deserved to win on Thursday night, coming out of the gates hot with two first period goals and shutting down Toronto in the game's final ten minutes. Sure, the victory marked Western's sixth straight one-goal game and came against a team just barely in playoff position, but Singer wasn't complaining about the margin of victory.
 
"That's our league—it doesn't matter who you play, they're real close games," he said. "There's not many games where the last few minutes of the game don't matter and that's a real credit to the league, I think to the coaches in the league, and makes the game fun."
 
Connor Chartier got the scoring started for Western four minutes into the matchup, taking a pass from Trevor Warnaar behind Toronto's defence and lifting the puck it over the shoulder of Michael Nishi. Shaun Furlong capitalized on a tough break for Toronto just minutes later, picking up Noah Schwartz's deflected pass and going shelf to double Western's lead. 
 
Schwartz would add the game-winning goal in the third period to finish with his second straight multi-point night and he now has five points over a three-game streak. The junior, who has shifted to centre in recent games, has been on fire since returning to the lineup in December, although it took him a little bit of time to get re-adjusted to the OUA's pace of play.
 
"The first couple games back against Windsor and Waterloo [in December] were pretty tough for me and it took me a few games to get back," he admitted. "Having that three week break in December was really big for me—I went back to Toronto, rehabbed a little bit and came back strong. I feel way better than I did in the first half and last year. I really want to win a championship and I think we can with this team."
 
Also finishing with a multi-point night was rookie defenceman Jonathan Laser, who played a big part in Schwartz's winning goal. He undressed a Toronto forechecker to begin a breakout and Spenser Cobbold was able to find Schwartz on the rush for the snipe.
 
The Varsity Blues responded three minutes later to make the final ten minutes interesting but Greg Dodds held down the fort in net. He made nine stops in the third period and finished with 28 saves on the night to pick up his third straight win. Both Dodds and fellow backstop Peter Delmas have picked up their play as of late, and Singer is taking notice.
 
"Both him and Peter have been outstanding since we've come back—not that they weren't good in the first half but they've really elevated their game," said Singer. "Doddsey was great [tonight]—he did a great job and made some real big saves for us too. He played the puck well. I think he played the puck up the ice seven or eight times for us."
 
Western will need all the goaltending they can get this weekend, as they hit the road on Friday in preparation for a matchup against McGill on Saturday. The Redmen are currently second in the OUA with a 18-3-1 record and have won six of their last eight.
 
"Always welcome a game against one of the best teams in the country," said Singer.
 
NOTES: Western went zero-for-three on the power play Thursday night and are now 2-for-18 since the beginning of December… With his goal against Toronto, Furlong is now on a four-game point streak that's seen him put up six points. He's second in team scoring behind Matt Marantz, who sat out Thursday's game…