Following last week's season opener against the Waterloo Warriors and two exhibition games south of the border against NCAA schools Yale and Princeton, the Mustangs are back in the friendly confines of Thompson Arena for a pair of games this weekend. The purple and white will open their regular season home schedule on Friday night vs the Carleton Ravens and follow that up by taking on the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Saturday night.

While the Mustangs home opener is set for Friday, Saturday's contest will be a special one as Western will retire the jersey of Chris McCauley prior to puck drop against the Gee-Gees at Thompson Arena.

The purple and white had difficulties containing the offence of the Warriors in their season open on the road, allowing five goals in the second period en route to a 9-3 defeat. First-year defenseman Zach Core scored the first goal of his OUA career in the losing effort while Rylan Bechtel and Spenser Cobbold also found the back of the net in the first match of the season.

The Mustangs will look to improve on their penalty killing and discipline; they found themselves short-handed nine times while allowing five goals on those opportunities in the game against Waterloo.

This weekend of home games presents a stern test for the Mustangs as they face a pair of teams that made the playoffs last season, with Carleton and Ottawa finishing fourth and sixth respectively in the Eastern conference. The two teams opened the season against each other at the Carleton Ice House with the Ravens completing a 6-5 victory in overtime. The Gee-Gees overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to force the extra frame but allowed the game-winning goal just over a minute into sudden death.

The Ravens followed their season-opening performance with another overtime decision, this time coming out on the losing end against McGill, last season's OUA bronze medalists.

The Mustangs were bested by Carleton by a score of 4-1 in their only meeting last season. Carleton forward Brett Welychka, who tallied four points in the victory against Ottawa, assisted on two goals in the matchup against the Mustangs last season.

Western's opponents on Saturday night, the Gee-Gees, earned their first win of the season at home in overtime against Concordia by a 5-4 score. Their offence continued to find the back of the net as they put fourth their second consecutive five-goal performance in the victory.

Ottawa goaltender Graham Hunt turned aside 39 of 41 shots in a 5-2 victory against the Mustangs in the inter-conference matchup last season. Western will look for more offence this time around against Hunt and Ottawa, who have allowed four or more goals in both their games this season.