Western vs. Guelph - Thursday, February 20 at 7 PM  Watch live on Mustangs TV

On Saturday, the Mustangs ended the regular season with a thrilling 5-4 overtime win over the Brock Badgers, marking their fourth straight victory and the eleventh consecutive game that they've earned at least a point. Entering the OUA playoffs, the Mustangs are ranked first in the OUA West and fourth overall in the league.
 
The only team to steal a win from Western during that 11-game point streak happens to be the same team they will meet in the first round of the OUA playoffs, the Guelph Gryphons, who defeated the Mustangs 7-6 in an overtime thriller on February 1 to end a six game Western win streak. The Gryphons will arrive in London on Thursday for game one, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena.
 
The Mustangs and the Gryphons split the season series at one game apiece, as Western took the first game of the season 4-0 on January 23. That game saw Josh Unice register the shutout, his first and only of the season, and Kyle De Coste throw down a monster performance with two goals and two assists on the night.
 
The Gryphons are led on offense by sophomore forward Nicklas Huard, who finished the season with 18 goals and 19 assists for 37 points—11 points higher than his rookie season total of 26. Huard made his mark late last time the two teams met but made it count, scoring the overtime winner 2:27 into the extra frame.
 
In net, Guelph has relied on the tandem of Keith Hamilton and Andrew Loverock, who played in 14 and 11 games, respectively. Hamilton, who faced the Mustangs in both games this year and let in a total of 10 goals, has the higher win total of the two at seven, although Loverock's save percentage is a bit higher at 0.898 along with his goals against average of 3.37.
 
Although the Gryphons' pulled out a win in the final meeting between the two teams, they don't appear to have much momentum heading into the playoffs with six losses in their last nine and no wins in their last two regular season games. Nevertheless, the Mustangs will have to be sharp when their opponents come to town as the OUA playoffs have been known to have their fair share of upsets and surprises, something the Mustangs know well after being eliminated by sixth-placed Waterloo last year.
 
That being said, Western has a lot going for them at the moment. Not surprisingly, that list starts from the net out, with Josh Unice entering the playoffs on an absolute tear. Unice was in net for the Mustangs' win against Brock on Saturday night, stopping 39 of 35 shots to lead Western to their overtime victory. That win marks the veteran goaltender's eleventh in a row and the only game during that stretch which he allowed to go to extra time.  
 
Unice heads into the playoffs ranked first in the OUA West and fourth in the entire OUA in save percentage at .927%. He also finishes tied for first in the OUA and third in the CIS with 16 wins, one less than the country's top performers in UNB's Charles Lavigne and Acadia's Evan Mosher, while combining with backup Greg Dodds to put the Mustangs at third in CIS team save percentage at .921%.
 
Daniel Erlich proved on Saturday that he could finish the season just as strong as he started it, registering three assists against the Badgers to give him 50 points and the OUA's scoring title. In one game more this season, the sophomore forward put up 20 more points than he did in his rookie year, including six more goals and 14 more assists.
 
Erlich jumped into the OUA scoring lead in October after starting the season on an eleven-game point streak, putting up six goals and 16 assists for a CIS-leading 22 points. With his three assists on Saturday, he finished the season with points in four of his last five games and 11 points in total during that time.
 
Mustangs captain Steve Reese also capped off his huge second-half offensive surge on Saturday by registering two goals and one assist in Western's win over Brock. The veteran forward finished the regular season on an 11-game point streak, during which time he registered nine goals and 13 assists to raise his point total to 32 for the season.
 
Other than Reese and Erlich, two other big offensive assets heading into the playoffs for the Mustangs are Zach Harnden and Matt Clarke, who finished two and three on the team in scoring with 41 and 40 points, respectively. Harnden finished tied for ninth in the CIS scoring race while Clarke was right behind him at eleventh.
 
Harnden had his 12-game point streak snapped on Saturday night, although the 22 points he collected during that time ensured he would finish the season with his highest offensive output of his three-year Mustangs career. His 18 goals are his second highest total of his OUA career behind last year's total of 21, but his 23 assists are nine more than both of his previous totals, lifting him six points higher than his previous OUA point high of 35 from last year.
 
Clarke, on the other hand, finished the season with two less points than his rookie-year total of 42 in one less game. The former London Knight, who will be graduating from Western this year after two strong years with the Mustangs, will be looking to make his mark in the playoffs. Last year, he registered a goal and an assist for Western during the Mustangs' five playoff matches.