After opening 2014 with a 3-2 road victory over Laurentian on January 3, the Mustangs will return home for their longest stretch of home games so far this season, beginning with tilts on Friday and Saturday against Laurier (5-9-1) and Lakehead (13-3-0), respectively. Western will be looking to extend their current three game winning-streak—a streak that began before the winter break with a 3-2 win against Nipissing on December 1.

Backstop Josh Unice is playing stellar for the Mustangs right now, compiling a save percentage of 0.943 over his last two games to lead the Mustangs over Laurentian and Windsor. In December's game against Windsor alone—a game which was played outdoors at Comerica Park—Unice turned away 39 shots, leading the Mustangs to a 5-2 victory and extracting revenge for a 5-1 loss only two games earlier.

Western's success over the last three games can also be attributed to the play of sophomore star Matt Clarke, who has registered a point in each game over that span including two multi-point efforts against Windsor and Nipissing. His three goals and three assists during that time have propelled him back into the league's scoring race, where he sits tied for third with 26 points alongside fellow sophomore Mustang Daniel Erlich.

Erlich has also kept up his pace during the Mustangs winning streak, tallying a goal and three assists for four points over that span. The sophomore set-up man has been at the top of the OUA in points all season—even leading the race for a short period in November—and will look to continue his success as the Mustangs fight for playoff positioning in 2014. 

Western vs. Laurier – Friday, January 10 at 7 PM - Watch live on Mustangs TV

Laurier may rank last in the OUA West but their record of 5-9-1 is a testament to the parity in the West Division, especially when compared with the East. In fact, if one were to move the 10th place Golden Hawks into the OUA's East Division, their record of 5-9-1 would be good enough to place them in a tie for seventh place with Concordia, putting them firmly in OUA playoff position. 

Where they stand, however, Laurier is on the outside looking in and will be starting the New Year looking to turn their luck around. They aren't getting any help from their schedule so far, though, as they've started the year with two tough games against second-ranked Ryerson and first-ranked Queen's, both of which have seen them fall 3-1.

The Golden Hawks will have a third chance to take down a high-ranked team when they take on third-place Western on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena and will be looking to avenge a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Mustangs on October 31. Before then, however, Laurier will have to make a stop in Toronto on Thursday to take on the fifth-ranked Varsity Blues, who they have yet to play this season.

The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night at Thompson Arena.

Western vs. Lakehead – Saturday, January 11 at 7 PM - Watch live on Mustangs TV

After going 6-24 (25%) on the power play in the first six games of the season and managing at least one special-teams goal in each of those matches, the Mustangs power play has slowed down a bit, going 11-50 (20%) while averaging 4.5 opportunities a game. In comparison, Lakehead's power play has almost completely lost its touch, starting at 25% through the first six games and dropping 16 points to 9% in the ten games since.

Yet despite the large drop in power play effectiveness the Thunderwolves haven't seen their success suffer as they sit first in the OUA West Division with 26 points. Currently, Lakehead is on a four game winning streak including two wins in their first two games of the New Year, both coming against the Varsity Blues.

A big reason for Lakehead's success this season has been their goaltending, as their top two netminders currently sit in the top ten in the OUA for goals against average while one of them, Jeff Bosch, holds the top spot for both goals against average (1.35) and save percentage (0.952).

The Thunderwolves' total of 34 goals against ties them for first place in the OUA with the Golden Gaels and is 11 less than Western's total of 45 in the same amount of games.

Their goaltending will have to be strong when they roll into London on Saturday as the Mustangs currently sit second in the OUA West with 60 goals for.

The puck is set to drop at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night at Thompson Arena.