Greg Dodds was at it again last week, this time earning himself the title of Mustangs Male Athlete of the Week thanks to a stellar 38-save shutout performance against McGill. Kyle De Coste, Stefan Salituro, and Adam McKee provided Western's firepower on the night, each registering a goal to send the Redmen home with a 3-0 defeat.

Western can now say that they've broken their three-week streak of splitting their weekend games, even if it's just because they only had one game on the schedule. At the same time, the Mustangs' light schedule allowed Ryerson to claim sole possession of second place in the OUA West Division with a three point weekend. Western is right behind them in third.

After having his seven-game point streak snapped on November 1 against Ryerson, Steve Reese was back at it again on Saturday, assisting on McKee's empty netter to give him a team-leading five goals and 12 points  in nine games. De Coste is also on a tear as of late, responding to being kept off the scoreboard against Ryerson by putting up his third multi-point effort in his last four games. He's now second on the team with 10 points in nine games.

In net, Dodds was his usual self for the Mustangs in a game that saw him face 30-plus shots for the fourth straight time and register his second shutout of the season. In those last four games, Dodds is 3-1 with 155 saves on 160 shots for a spectacular save percentage of .969. With just two losses in eight starts, he ranks fourth in the OUA in win percentage (.750) among backstops who have played at least five games. 

Meanwhile, his overall save percentage of .949 is good enough for first in the OUA and second in the CIS behind Calgary backstop Kris Lazaruk, whose part-time job as Canada's leading researcher in the area of force-field technology starts to look a little bit suspicious when you consider that he's posted three shutouts in his last three games to go with his CIS-leading totals in both save percentage (.968) and goals against average (0.67) through six starts this season.

Western vs Laurentian – Friday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. – Watch Live on OUA.tv

The top teams in the East Division have been engaged in a firefight all season long, as all five of the top teams in the division have registered 40 or more goals so far this year compared to just three teams in all of the OUA West (Western has just 29). Fifth-placed Laurentian has been getting in on that action—with 45 goals so far this season they rank fifth in the OUA in that category.  

Western, on the other hand, has just 29 goals for—albeit in two less games than the Voyageurs. But the Mustangs have also allowed just 18 goals on the season, while Laurentian has allowed more goals than any of the OUA West teams at 47 and stands as the only team in the top five of the OUA East standings to have allowed more goals than they've scored.

The only category that Laurentian is on top of in the OUA is power play opportunities, so Western will have to be on their best behaviour when the two team's hit the ice on Friday. Heading into the week, the Mustangs rank third in the OUA in times short-handed at 36, so the last thing they needed was to face off against the team that's proven best at drawing penalties.

Surprisingly, leading the Voyageurs on offence is defenceman Vincent Llorca, whose team-high six goals and 13 points have him ranked first and third, respectively, among defencemen in the OUA. He's also the only Laurentian player to register a hat-trick this season, as he scored five of his goals in the Voyageurs' 7-6 victory over Laurier on November 1.

And he's been hot lately. In fact, all 13 of his points have come in the last six games, as he put together a five game point-streak heading into last week's game against UQTR that saw him put up three or more points in three straight games. The sophomore defender has already surpassed his point total from last season, when he scored six goals and added six assists for 12 points through 28 games.

Western vs Nipissing – Saturday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m. – Watch Live on OUA.tv

Nipissing sits one spot above the Voyageurs in the OUA East Division and head into the week having won three of their last four games and six of their last nine. The only thing separating the Lakers from Laurentian in the standings is the point that Nipissing got in their October 5 overtime-loss to UQTR.

Two players are tied for the team lead in points as both Colin Campbell and Matt Paton have registered 12 points through the team's first 11 games. Paton's team-high eight goals have him near the top of the OUA in that category, as he sits tied for fourth with four other players. He's also one of three players on Nipissing to record a hat-trick this year as he notched three tallies against Waterloo on November 1.

After posting a team save percentage of just .887 in October, Laurentian has stepped up their defensive game to begin November, posting an impressive .928 team percentage through three games while averaging five goals per game on the other side of the ice. Their high save percentage total in November is thanks in large part to a 38-save shut out performance by Jeremy Pominville against Waterloo.

Nipissing's special teams have also been firing on all cylinders to begin the month, as they have a 31.2% success rate on the power play compared to 17.6% in October and have gone an impressive 85.7% on the penalty kill. On the season, the Lakers rank fifth in the OUA in power play percentage (22%) and 13th on the penalty kill (79.2%), while Western ranks first in the league on the power play at 29.3% and second on the penalty kill at 88.9% (Carleton now ranks first in the OUA at 89.7% after cashing in three times with the man advantage last week versus UOIT).