LONDON, Ont. -  After getting the best of the Brock Badgers in a tightly contested OUA West semi-final series, the Western men's hockey team will move on to face the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA West finals.

The Mustangs will enjoy home-ice advantage throughout the three-game series, as they look forward to hosting the Gryphons in Thompson Arena this Thursday evening to kick off the series.

Western earned their way to the finals with a dominant 7-1 victory over Brock to conclude the three-game series, but over the previous two games, getting the best of the Badgers proved to be no easy task. After taking the first game 3-2 and dropping the following meeting 3-2 at home, Western eventually pulled off the impressive upset on the road thanks, in large part, to an incredible 31 saves from goalkeeper Luke Peresinni. Ethan Szypula also played a key role in the victory for the purple and white, adding a goal and two assists to lead the game in points.

However, Western will need a similarly stellar effort if they hope to advance in yet another difficult three-game series against a Guelph Gryphons team which finished the regular season in fourth place in the OUA West standings.

The Gryphons will be entering this weekend after upsetting a Ryerson Rams team which sat atop the OUA West standings to conclude the regular season. The series proved to be a high scoring affair over the course of three games, as the Gryphons poured in an average of 4.3 goals per game against an elite Rams defence. Guelph established themselves as a team boasting impressive numbers on both sides of the ice throughout the regular season, but if Guelph is able to carry this high-volume goal scoring into the OUA West Finals, this series could very well prove to be as back and forth as their regular season matchups.

The two teams only met twice in the regular season, as Western took the first game by a dominant 4-1 margin, only to be topped by Guelph's 7-1 victory later that month. Western's loss was mostly thanks to the incredible play of Guelph's goalie, Andrew Masters. The Mustangs peppered Masters with 39 shots on the day, yet he proved to be a consistent wall for the Gryphons all game long to help sustain their lead.

The Gryphons have played with a similar high-volume offence all year, as they sat first in the province in shots per game throughout the regular season and backed it up on the other end of the ice by sitting third in goals-against average and fourth in save percentage. However, Western's biggest struggle will presumably come on the power-play, as Guelph sat third in the OUA in penalty kill percentage, while the Mustangs have struggled all year to convert with the man-advantage despite doing well in creating opportunities for themselves.

However, after defeating one of the best teams the OUA has to offer in Brock and getting the best of Guelph earlier in the season, this series will undoubtedly prove to be competitive, particularly if Peresinni can keep up such a high level of play.

The first game of the series will take place this Thursday, February 28 in Thompson Arena and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv. To keep track of the rest of the Mustangs' schedule, click here.