Western split their games against UOIT and Queen's last week, falling to 4-2 to the Ridgebacks on Friday before bouncing back to beat the Gaels 3-1 on Saturday night. Next up for the Mustangs are two of the OUA's Toronto-based teams, as Western will welcome the Varsity Blues on Friday night before hitting the road to take on the Ryerson Rams on Saturday afternoon.
 
Marc Nother got the call for the first start of his OUA career last Friday, but he and the Mustangs were unable to contain an early onslaught from UOIT as the Ridgebacks scored four goals before Western could get on the scoresheet. The game marked the first time this year that the Mustangs have failed to score on the power play, although the OUA's top power play was back on Saturday, registering one goal on three opportunities to stay atop the league at 29.8%.
 
That goal came off the stick of Kyle De Coste and was the tying tally in a game that saw Greg Dodds steal the show. The sophomore backstop outdid his counterpart Kevin Bailie, who was also brilliant with 38 saves, by turning aside 48 of the 49 shots that came his way. Dodds now sits first in the OUA and fifth in the CIS with a save percentage of .938.
 
"I prefer more shots than less as it's easier to keep my head in the game," Dodds said of the heavy workload against Queen's. "That being said, at this level there's no excuse to lose focus and having less shots is no excuse to let in a bad goal."
 
And there haven't been many bad goals for the Wingham, Ontario native this season.
 
The 2014-15 season marks Dodds' second with the Mustangs after arriving in 2013 fresh off a NOJHL Championship with the North Bay Trappers. He was spectacular in his final year with the Trappers, earning the title of First Team All-Star and  NOJHL Top Goaltender after posting the league's best regular season goals against average (2.25) and save percentage (.938). During the team's post-season run he was even better, posting a goals against average of 1.69 and a .941 save percentage to help lead them to the league championship.
 
"Playing in North Bay was a great experience for me," Dodds said. "Playing under Tom McCarthy was a privilege and he was able to get the most out of me. I played a lot of minutes in North Bay and knew from the beginning that it was my net to lose and I took the reigns and didn't look back. I was also able have a very successful playoff run and win a championship."
 
"Having that experience definitely helps me this year as the roles are very similar," he added. "I'm looking forward to the minutes this year and hoping for another long successful playoff run between the pipes."
 
On offence, Noah Schwartz and Steve Reese both extended their season-long point streaks to six games, while Stefan Salituro is now on a five game point streak after adding a goal and two assists over the weekend. Reese leads the team in both goals (4) and points (8), followed closely by Schwartz and Salituro, who both have seven points on the season.
 
Toronto at Western — Friday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. - Watch Live on OUA.tv , Listen Live on CHRW Radio 
 
There's no better way to put it— the Varsity Blues have had a tough start to the season. After starting the season with a win against Laurentian, Toronto has dropped four of their last five games, including their most recent game against Laurier, and sit last in the OUA West Division.
 
But there's tons of time to turn the season around and Toronto, who finished fifth in the OUA West last year with a record of 15-11-2, is a good candidate to do so. For one thing, seven of their top eight scorers from the 2013-14 season have returned this year, including all four of their 20-plus point scorers in Michael Markovic (15–17–32), Tyler Von Engelbretchen (9—15—24), Jeff Brown (13—10—23), and Paul Van De Velde (5—15—20).
 
Markovic has already gotten off to a great start too, notching five goals through six games so far, while Brown and Van De Velde both have two goals and two assists for four points. And the team has gotten a ton of shots through so far this season too, averaging the eighth best shot-per-game total at 33.3 after firing an average of 33.1 last year.
 
But Toronto has been giving up a lot of goals in the early going. After finishing eighth in the OUA last year with a goals against average of 3.10, the team has the second-highest goals against average in the OUA this season at 4.68 and the worst team save percentage at .865.
 
That trend is bound to turn around soon, as the Varsity Blues are led by the same core of solid goaltending as they were last year. Garrett Sheehan, Michael Nishi, and Brett Willows are all back this year after combining for the CIS' 11th best team save percentage last year at .908. The sophomore Nishi has been particularly solid in the early going, making an appearance in each of the last two games while compiling a .935 save percentage.
 
Western at Ryerson — Saturday, November 1 at 2:30 p.m. - Watch Live on OUA.tv 
 
Western and Ryerson have already met once this season on October 16, when Reese notched a pair of goals to lead the Mustangs to a 4-3 victory. Since then, the Rams have gone 2-1 and are currently on a two-game winning streak after defeating Laurier 5-3 and Waterloo 6-3.
 
A big reason for the recent success of the Rams has been the hot play of senior Mitch Gallant, who has a goal and an assist in each of the last two games to add to his team-leading totals of six goals and 11 points on the season. The Charlottetown, P.E.I. native is currently on a three game point streak and has now registered points in six of Ryerson's first seven games.
 
And Gallant is just one of the many weapons that Ryerson possesses. From the backend, they have recent London Knights graduate Alex Basso, who potted his first goal as a Ram against Laurier to go with his team-leading seven assists. Between Basso and Gallant on the scoring leaderboard are sophomores Kyle Blaney and Daniel Clairmont, who both have nine points so far.
 
In net, Troy Passingham has carried the entire load for the Rams, starting all seven games and turning away 233 shots for a solid save percentage of .925. His counterparts, on the other hand, have been absolutely torched, as Ryerson has fired the second most shots at opposing goaltenders while leaving them with a 4.43 goals against average and a .886 save percentage.
 
So if Dodds prefers to be busy, he'll certainly get his wish on Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, with one of the hottest offensive teams in the OUA and the league leader in save percentage set to meet, Saturday's game promises to be a can't-miss match.