A comeback win against Concordia and a loss to UQTR gave Western their second straight split weekend and has the purple and white at 7-2-0 heading into two matchups against Lakehead this week.
 
Nine games are now in the books for Western and they still hold down first place in the OUA's West Division alongside the York Lions. The Mustangs also have a game in hand on some of the teams chasing them, most notably the dangerous Windsor Lancers, who hold down third place.
 
Any of the tough luck that the Mustangs had on the ice last weekend was made a little easier to swallow by their good luck on the out-of-town scoreboard. The three closest teams to them in the West Division standings all dropped at least a game, with York losing to Carleton and Windsor and Ryerson each losing both of their weekend games.
 
For a team that had been tops in the league on the penalty kill all season, Western had a bit off of an off weekend in that regard. After giving up just one power play goal through their first seven, the Mustangs allowed three in two games, including two against Concordia on Friday.
 
On the bright side, however, they scored more power play goals than they have in a weekend this season with three and now rank fifth in the OUA with a 29% success rate. All three of those goals were netted by defenceman, as David Corrente and Stephen Gaskin scored with the man advantage on Friday before rookie Jonathan Laser did the same on Saturday.
 
Western's defencemen registered a total of six points on Friday and would add another with Laser's goal on Friday. Gaskin had a hat trick on Friday night, tying the game with his second of the night late in the third before firing home the game-winner with 10 seconds left in the first overtime period. Known as a solid stay-at-home defenceman, he's now third on the team in scoring.
 
Matt Marantz had his season-long point streak snapped on Saturday but remains at the top of the team scoring leaderboard with 16 points. He picked up a pair of helpers on Friday to increase his league-leading assist total to 12. Marantz's parents were in town all the way from Calgary to see him do so, and they were treated to two of Western's toughest games of the season.
 
Trent Ouellette remains in second in team scoring with 10 points, although he's cooled off of late. After starting the year with a six-game point streak, he's been held off the board in three straight. In net, Greg Dodds got the call in both games and performed well, but the stats did not fall in his favour. He still has a respectable .906 save percentage despite giving up 10 goals in two games.
 
Thursday, November 12 – 7 p.m. – Lakehead at Western - Watch Live on OUA.tv, Listen Live on CHRW Radio 94.9 FM
Friday, November 13 – 7 p.m. – Lakehead at Western - Watch Live on OUA.tv
 
It's been a long fall for the Thunderwolves since they disposed of the Mustangs in last year's OUA playoffs, as they've yet to pick up a win through eight games. Lakehead ranks last or near-last in the OUA in a number of statistical categories, including goals per game (1.75), shots (239), penalty kill percentage (68.9%), and power play percentage (10.5%).
 
Their only relief of the season has come at home, where they've gotten much better goaltending and have killed 10% more of their penalties than when on the road. They've scored the same amount of goals at home and on the road, but have given up ten more when playing away.
 
Still, Western has already been upset once this season by a low-scoring opponent (read: Laurentian), so they certainly won't be taking the Thunderwolves lightly when they roll into town this week.