The end of the regular is finally here as the Mustangs play their final two games before the playoffs hit against Guelph on Thursday and Laurier on Friday. Both of those teams sit in the middle of the OUA West Division and are currently locked in an intense battle for playoff positioning, meaning the contests promise to be heated at the very least.
 
Last weekend the Mustangs split their contests against Windsor and Waterloo, falling to the Lancers on Friday before bouncing back to beat the Warriors the next day. Saturday's game held a little extra meaning for at least one of the Mustangs, as head coach Clarke Singer earned his 300th win at Western with the 4-3 victory.
 
A veteran of 14 seasons with the Mustangs, Singer will have a chance to watch a number of other veterans—albeit of a shorter period—be honoured when Western plays Laurier at home. Friday will serve as an opportunity to honour Western's nine graduating players as Steve Reese, Noah Schwartz, Julian Cimadamore, Matt Paltridge, David Corrente, Stefan Salituro, Adam McKee, Kyle De Coste, and Ryan Kirk will all be recognized.
 
Reese has stepped up big time for Western this year, helping to fill in for the loss of a couple offensive weapons by leading the team in scoring. He currently sits fifth in the OUA in assist with 22 and seventh with 30 points in 25 games. Salituro and Schwartz have also been solid offensively for the Mustangs this year, adding 26 points and 21, respectively, while De Coste has five goals and 12 assists for 17 points so far.
 
The speedy Paltridge has already put up his best offensive season of his OUA career, registering 11 points so far with time to spare. Cimadamore and McKee, who each have 16 points on the season, have been huge reasons for Westerns strength down the middle, while Corrente has helped quarterback the power play and leads Western's defence with four goals. Kirk, who returned to the Mustangs on January 23 after a serious injury kept him out for more than a year of action, has been the Mustangs' comeback story of the season after being told he might not be able to play hockey again.
 
Western can fall as far as one spot in the OUA West Standings, but can also catapult themselves to the top of the OUA with four points. Of course, all of that depends on the outcomes of the other games this weekend. Nonetheless, a pair of wins and some luck could help give the Mustangs some favourable positioning heading into the first round next week.
 
Thursday, February 5 vs Guelph — 7:30 p.m. — Watch Live on OUA.tv
 
Guelph and Western actually opened the 2014-15 season against each other, with the Mustangs pulling out a 5-2 victory over the Gryphons at Thompson Arena on October 10. That loss ended up being the first of the six that Guelph would experience in October, before they completely collapsed in a seven-game, no-win month of November.
 
As a result, the Gryphons headed into the New Year with just three wins and nine points before turning things around in January. Since they opened the year with an 8-1 statement win over Ryerson, Guelph has put together five wins in eight games, including a gutsy 6-5 double-overtime win over Lakehead to close out last week.
 
If the Gryphons end up making the playoffs, that game will probably stand out as one of the biggest reasons why. They're currently tied with Laurier and Lakehead for sixth place in the OUA West Division with each team holding 21 points, one more than the two teams chasing them (and sitting outside the playoff bubble) in Brock and York. An overtime loss against the Thunderwolves would have meant entering the final week outside of playoff position.
 
So this week's games mean a lot to Guelph, and they have a tough schedule to boot with games against Western and Waterloo. Leading them into battle will be their top scorer, Nicklas Huard, who has 28 points and a team-leading 11 goals in 24 games. Other players to look out for are Teal Burns, Carlos Amestoy, and Robert De Fulviis, who all have 20 or more points.
 
In net, the Gryphons have tended to lean on freshman Andrew D'Agostini for the most part, as he's played over 1000 minutes while racking up eight wins through 17 starts and posting a respectable save percentage of .900. It's also possible that sophomore Keith Hamilton could get the start, as he's been the only other Gryphon goaltender to strap up so far this year. In seven starts, Hamilton has a win and a .889 save percentage.
 
Friday, February 6 vs Laurier — 7:00 p.m. — Watch Live on OUA.tv
 
Western and an injury riddled Laurier squad met in December, as the Mustangs ground out a 4-3 victory against the Golden Hawks in Waterloo. Five of Laurier's ten wins have come since then, as they've benefited from the return of a couple injured players and have pulled out some big wins against tough teams like Windsor and Queen's.
 
Currently, the Golden Hawks are on a three-game winning streak and have five wins in their last six games. That record has helped pull them out of the basement of the OUA West Division and put them in playoff position heading into the final week. While they do have a tough game against Western on the schedule, a game against fellow sixth-place team Lakehead means that they'll still have a chance to decide their fate even if they do lose to the Mustangs.
 
Leading the Golden Hawks on offence are freshman Zach Lorentz and senior Tyler Stothers, who have 27 points apiece on the year. With 16 goals on the year, Stothers has slotted himself into second-place on the OUA's goal-scoring leaderboard behind Concordia's Olivier Hinse. He's been on fire lately too, with a hat-trick against York and seven points in his last three games.
 
Whereas the Gryphons and Mustangs have used just two goaltenders, injuries and circumstance have forced the Golden Hawks to use a number of goaltenders throughout the season— five to be exact. That may seem like all bad luck, but fortunately Laurier appears to have found their solution between the pipes in Vinny Merante.
 
Merante, a sophomore who put up a solid .915 save percentage through 11 starts last year, made his first appearance of the year on November 15, stopping all 18 shots he faced before being forced out of the game with an injury. Since returning to action against McGill on January 11, he has been stellar for Laurier, posting four wins in six starts and a save percentage of .926.