On Saturday, the Mustangs rebounded from a tough 3-2 loss to Laurier a day earlier by defeating Lakehead 5-1, knocking the Thunderwolves out of first place in the OUA West in the process. Fast forward five days and Western will have another tough task on their hands as they take to the ice at Thompson Arena against Ryerson (14-5-0), the team that took the Thunderwolves' top spot.

Matt Clarke and Daniel Erlich stayed hot for the Mustangs over the weekend, putting up five points in two games between the two of them. Erlich's three point performance moved him into sole possession of third place in the OUA scoring race with 29 points while Clarke's two points keep him in a tie for fourth place with 28.

Also coming up big on the weekend was rookie forward Kyle De Coste, who scored in Friday's game against Laurier before adding two more in Saturday's blowout over Lakehead. The London native is tied for second on the team in power play goals with four and third on the team in total goals with eight. Just ahead of him on the team's goal-scoring leaderboard is veteran forward Zach Harnden, whose two points over the weekend keep him well above a point per game pace this season with 22 points.

In net, Josh Unice was solid on Saturday night, stopping 25 of 26 shots to keep the Thunderwolves' offence at bay. Of the ten goalies who have taken on a workload of over 700 minutes so far this season, Unice ranks fifth with a save percentage of 0.916, sixth with a goals against average of 3.01, and is tied for second in wins with eight. Over his last three starts—all three of which have been victories for the Mustangs—Unice has improved those numbers immensely, registering a 0.948 save percentage and a 1.66 goals against average while downing the likes of Windsor, Lakehead, and Laurentian.

Ryerson Rams - Wednesday, January 15 at 7:00 p.m. - Watch Live on Mustangs TV

One look at the OUA standings tells you what you need to know about the Ryerson Rams—this is a team that knows how to score. If you want to find the most obvious example, you can take a look at the Goals For column, which features the Rams at the top with 87 goals, four goals more than the closest team.

But that isn't the only place where their scoring touch is apparent: their schedule is littered with high-scoring affairs, including eight games where they scored five or more and six where they've scored seven or more; the OUA scoring leaderboard features two Rams, Jamie Wise and Domenic Alberga, at the top—both at least five points above the closest player; and the OUA assist leaderboard has three Rams in the top five: Alberga, Wise, and Peter Hermenegildo, who sits first with 21.

Ryerson has also been highly effective on the power play so far this season, sitting first in the OUA both for overall success rate (27.5%) and for away success rate (26.7%)—a stat which is particularly relevant for Western as they prepare to welcome the Rams. In comparison, the Mustangs sit fifth in the OUA with an overall rate of 21.7% and seventh at home with a rate of 23.1%.

On top of their proven offensive abilities so far this season, Ryerson also enters Wednesday's game on a five game winning streak, which has seen them take down the likes of Waterloo, Guelph, Windsor, Laurier, and Concordia in the process. During that span, they have managed to tally a total of 23 goals while only allowing eight, their lowest total in a five game period so far this season, not including the two games they were forced to forfeit in November.

A big reason for those low goals against totals during that time has been the elevated play of third-year netminder Troy Passingham, who played in all five of those games while compiling a more-than-impressive save percentage of 0.951. Those numbers are far above his 2013 save percentage of 0.928 and his OUA career save percentage of 0.889.

The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday at Thompson Arena.