It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Mustangs through the first half of the 2015-16 season.
Pegged as a middle-of-the-road squad in the pre-season, Western stunned the league early, overcoming a number of key losses from last year and a few untimely injuries to post an OUA West-best 8-2-0 record through early November.
But after a tough loss to Queen's on November 19, Western's bad luck seemed to finally catch up with them. They picked up just a single win through their next six to slip to 9-7-0. Instead of first place in the OUA West, they now occupy third place behind Windsor and York.
Yet, all things considered, third place in a tight West Division is not a bad place to be, especially when one takes into account the number of injuries Western has sustained at the defensive position. At times, the purple and white have been forced to go with just four d-men, and more than a couple times that lineup did not include reliable veteran
Stephen Gaskin.
Through their adversity, the Mustangs have been led by a mix of veterans and youth on both defence and offence. Rookie blueliners
Jonathan Laser,
Sean Callaghan, and
Nick Charif have joined with veterans
David Corrente,
Matt Herskovitz,
Alex Micallef, and Gaskin to form one of the most defiant defensive cores in the league.
On offence, veteran
Matt Marantz leads the team with 24 points through 17 games, while his rookie linemates for much of the season,
Ray Huether and
Andrew Goldberg, are close behind with 18 and 14 points, respectively. Western's defence has also contributed up front, with Micallef registering 14 points and Gaskin adding 11 points and a hat trick.
Peter Delmas and
Greg Dodds have carried the load in net, combining for a .893 team save percentage—the lowest that Western has posted in a number of years. Look for those two to continue heating up as the New Year gets underway, as you can only hold down two of the most promising goaltenders in the OUA for so long.
Western vs. Brock – Friday, January 9 at 7 p.m.– Watch live on OUA.tv; Listen Live on CHRW Radio 94.9 FM With a 6-3 record at Thompson Arena, Western has done better at home than they have on the road this season, and they'll have a chance to continue that trend when they welcome a struggling Brock squad to London on Friday night.
The Badgers enter 2016 on a season-long six-game losing streak that has seen them drop games to top teams like McGill and Concordia but also to luck-starved teams like Lakehead and Laurier. The run came just when Brock looked like they were finding their stride, as they had gone seven games with a point before falling upon hard times.
The only positive list that Brock stands atop in the OUA is alphabetical, but they have posted top-ten stats in goaltending, penalty kill percentage, and power play percentage. Still, they've had trouble getting themselves going on the road, where they're considerably worse on the power play (13.9% vs 27%) the penalty kill (78.6% vs 91.3%), and in net (.875 vs .941 SV%).
Some players to look out for if they're in the lineup include Chris Maniccia, who leads the team with 21 points on six goals and 15 assists, Jake Cardwell, who is contributing at more than a point-per-game average from the blueline, and backstop Clint Windsor, who has started the majority of games for the Badgers while posting an impressive .924 save percentage.
Western at Laurier – Saturday, January 9 at 7:30 p.m. Laurier has faired about the same as the Badgers, also accumulating 14 points so far this season, although the Golden Hawks have a game in hand on the two teams they are currently tied with. A win against a top-tier team like Western would be a good way to put that game to use. Giant-slayer may be too dramatic a term for a team with a 7-9-0 record, but Laurier has certainly had success with one top team in the OUA West. That team is the West-best York Lions, who have played the Golden Hawks twice and have yet to come away with a win. The most recent meeting between the two teams saw a 5-2 victory for Laurier to close out 2015. The Golden Hawks don't stand out in any one category, which is to say that they aren't at the bottom or the top of any. One stat that does stand out is their home attendance average, which ranks second in the league at 633. Western will have to tame the crowd early if they want to come away victorious, as Laurier has rode that momentum to a winning record at home. Only a single player on the Golden Hawks has scored at a point-per-game pace so far this season, and that player—Christian Mroczkowski—has only played in nine games. Derek Schoenmakers leads the team with 10 goals and 15 points through 16 games while Colin Furlong and Vinny Merante have kept the team afloat with a .906 save percentage in net.
