LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs men's hockey team renews its rivalry with the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Thompson Arena.

One of the best rivalreis in interuniversity sport, the Mustangs and Golden Hawks always produce great battles.

Led on offence by J.M. Rizk, the Golden Hawks are a dangerous team that has adopted more of a defensive style in 2010-11 under new head coach Greg Puhalski (former bench-boss Kelly Nobes is now at McGill).

The Mustangs (2-0-1) hope home-ice advantage pays dividends for their squad after blanking York 6-0 in the home opener last Saturday Oct. 16.

The game Friday against the Golden Hawks is a battle for first place. Laurier is 3-1 on the season while Western is one point back.

Order tickets by phone at 519 661.3090 or online here.

Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer said he expects a great battle.

"They've had quite an early start to this season," Singer said of Laurier. "They are not quite as offensive minded as in the past. They have a great goalie in Ryan Daniels and a great defensive team; their six defenders are as good a defensive group as there is in our league."

He said Rizk is their top offensive threat.

"He is a great two-way forward and is one of the best forward int eh OUA and CIS," Singer said. "And their powerplay is clicking. We will have to be at our best."

Western, with a very young squad, has earned at least a point in all three regular season games this year. The only blemish a 5-4 overtime loss in Oshawa, Ont., last Friday against UOIT.

Singer said he is happy with the play of his youngsters with 12 freshmen on the roster.

"The biggest adjustment is to being a student-athlete at the university level. And so far, so good," Singer said. "They've had good off-ice adjustment to the academic side through the first six weeks and that is so important in the transition."

"They've done a good job so far I look forward to seeing that continue."

After the Laurier game, Western travels to Waterloo on Saturday night for a game against the Warriors at Columbia Ice Fields at 7:30 p.m.