Two one-goal wins last week against Toronto and the defending OUA Champion Guelph Gryphons have the Western Mustangs at 5-0-0 heading into a week that sees them head north for two tough road matchups against Laurentian and Nipissing.
 
It's been a long time since the Mustangs have started a season with five wins in row. Not since long before their last Queen's Cup in 2008 has a Western team been this dominant out of the gate.
 
Their early success hasn't gone unnoticed, either; after starting the season outside of the CIS Top Ten, the Mustangs are now ranked fifth in Canada. It's a small sample size, to be sure, but it would be unwise to ignore the progress that the young and injury-plagued team has made early on.
 
While the rookies made headlines through the first few weeks, the Mustangs returning players have taken the spotlight recently. Matt Marantz and Trent Ouellette are both on five-game point streaks with nine and eight points, respectively, while their line-mate Luke Karaim is tied for third on the team with defenceman Stephen Gaskin and freshman centre Ray Huether with six.
 
Huether has quietly been putting together a solid rookie campaign in the early going. He didn't register a point in his first game but has had multi-point efforts in two matchups since and added an assist against Guelph last week. Fellow rookies Spenser Cobbold, Cole Benson, and Connor Chartier aren't far behind, as each have multiple points on the season so far.
 
Greg Dodds and Peter Delmas continue to stand out as one of the best goaltending duos in Canadian university hockey, combining to stop 54 of 58 shots last weekend. Western's .929 team save percentage and 1.96 team goals against average have them in third and second in the OUA, respectively, and their performance on the penalty kill has Western in second in the OUA at 94.4%.
 
Western broke out for two power play goals on Friday against Toronto after failing to cash in with the man advantage through their first three games. Both of those goals—one of which was the double overtime winner—came off the stick of defenceman Alex Micallef. The junior defender is well on his way to surpassing his career high of 11 points with three through five games.
 
Friday, October 30 – 7:45 p.m. – Western at Laurentian
 
Laurentian has had a tough time early in the season, edging out Nipissing in a shootout in season-opener before dropping four consecutive games to McGill, Carleton, York, and Brock. They've both struggled to score goals (1.60 GPG) and struggled to keep them out of their net (4.92 GAA).
 
One bright spot on the roster has been freshman Jacob Smith. The Sudbury native has been scoring at a point-per-game pace with two goals and three assists through five games. He put up all five points through the first three games before being shutout in his last two against York and Brock.
 
They'll be in tough when they match up against the only unbeaten team in the OUA this week. But the Voyageurs also have the luxury of returning home, where they're unbeaten in one game, after a tough four game road stretch, as they look to end their four-game losing streak.
 
Saturday, October 31 – 7 p.m. – Western at Nipissing
 
After sustaining a loss to Laurentian in their season-opener, the Lakers have bounced back to put together a 2-2-2 record through their first six games. Positioning in the standings doesn't mean all too much this early in the season, but Nipissing is currently tied for fifth in the OUA East.
 
Through their first six games the Lakers has established themselves as a middle-of-the-pack team in goals-per-game (2.50), goals against average (3.69), and power play percentage (16.7%). One area where they've been consistently good is on the penalty kill. They've killed off 87.9% of their opponents' power play opportunities, good enough for seventh in the OUA.
 
The Lakers, who have just two senior skaters listed on their roster, are led on offence by sophomores Erik Robichaud (3g, 2a), Jacob McDowell (0g, 4a) and Jim McDowell (2g, 2a). They've been led in goal by rookie Domenic Graham, who has a .912 save percentage and two wins in five appearances.