Last year, Western headed into the playoffs on the most positive note possible, downing the Laurier Golden Hawks 6-0 to celebrate Senior Day at Thompson Arena.
 
What originally appeared to be a sign that Western would go deep in the playoffs turned out to be a lesson in how, sometimes, good signs don't mean good results. The Mustangs, who entered the playoffs as the second seed in the West, were quickly eliminated by Lakehead.
 
This year, the Western's final game of the season couldn't have gone much worse. Waterloo marched into Thompson Arena and handed the Mustangs a 5-2 defeat on Senior Day. It was a disappointing result for a team that will rely largely on its excellent goaltending to make a mark in the playoffs, and the speed with which it happened was concerning.
 
But if last year taught Western fans anything, it's not to look too much into the final result of the regular season. Fortunes can change quickly in the short OUA playoffs and Western will be looking to take advantage of that when they match up with Laurier this week.
 
"I think we're in good shape right now," said captain David Corrente. "That's not how we wanted to go into [the playoffs] of course but we've been playing very well, very strong. The guys have bought into our system here that Clarke and the coaches have imposed on us and we're excited."
 
Western still has a number of things working in their favour. They have gotten excellent scoring depth this season, led by veterans Matt Marantz (5-21-26) and Shaun Furlong (9-13-22). Their rookies have also impressed, none more than Spenser Cobbold. Cobbold registered nine points through 11 games in 2016 and finished second in team scoring (7-16-23).
 
Greg Dodds and Peter Delmas followed up an uneven opening half with an excellent second half, putting together a .943 team save percentage and eight wins through the first 10 games of the New Year. The only real blip was the loss against Waterloo.
 
Special teams can play a large role in a team's post-season success, and the Mustangs will need to turn theirs around if they want to go deep this year. Their power play is ranked just tenth in the OUA at 17% and their penalty kill hasn't been much better, coming in at 84.4%. But Western had started to turn their penalty kill around before Saturday, shutting out their opponents in three straight games before giving up two against the Warriors.
 
Game 1 - Western vs Laurier – Wednesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. – Watch live on OUA.tv or Listen at CHRW 94.9 FM
Game 2 - Western at Laurier – Friday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. 
Game 3 (If Necessary) - Western vs Laurier – Sunday, February 21 at 7 p.m. – Watch live on OUA.tv or listen at CHRW 94.9 FM
 
Laurier and Western have met twice this season, with the Mustangs taking both matchups (6-1, 2-1). But the Golden Hawks have been a bit of a different team in the second half, firing off four straight wins in late January against some tough opponents, including Windsor and Waterloo, before adding more recent wins against Queen's and Lakehead.
 
The Golden Hawks don't have any of the league's top point-getters, and none of their players are scoring at a point per game pace. But Derek Schoenmaker has been lights out when he gets the puck near the net, registering the sixth-highest goal total in the OUA at 17, and Christian Mroczkowski has been a solid contributor with 20 points.
 
Colin Furlong and Vinny Merante have both been good in net for the Golden Hawks, each recording seven wins. The two have been rotating starts for the better part of the season, although Furlong has picked up three more than Merante. Furlong also has a better save percentage by ten points, coming in at .921 compared to Merante's .911.