Western Ontario Athletics

LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs announced their nominees for the OUA teams of the month Nov. 30, with the men's hockey team and women's basketball team earning the honours. 

MEN'S: WESTERN MUSTANGS MEN’S HOCKEY
The 13-2 Western Mustangs escaped a difficult November schedule and are currently riding a 13-game winning streak dating back to their last loss, Oct. 10, in a 5-3 decision in favour of Brock.

Western is defending well and riding the hot goaltending of rookie Anthony Grieco (Brampton, Ont.) who is undefeated, and Keyvan Hunt (Coquitlam, B.C.). The pair sport a 2.15 GAA on the 13-game streak.
Grieco leads the CIS and OUA with a 1.66 GAA and .954 save percentage and winning percentage (1.000) with a record of 8-0-0.

In November, Western is 8-0. In October, Western defeated Guelph, York, Windsor, Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier in October, and in fact have won 10 games between Oct. 30 and Nov. 29, 2009.

Western's eight wins in November came with a difficult schedule in the month; Western defeated York 6-1, Waterloo 3-2, UQTR, then in first place in the OUA, 5-1, Concordia 10-4, Ottawa 6-4, Carleton 5-1, Wilfrid Laurier 5-4 and Waterloo 5-3.

Six of those eight wins were on the road. Western is presently ranked No. 3 in the CIS and has enjoyed scoring balance from all four lines (Western has 10 players with 10 or more points, three are defencemen, and of the seven forwards all four lines are represented).

Freshman forward Aaron Snow (Windsor, Ont.) is third in the CIS and second in the OUA with 26 points, and tied for fourth in Canada and first in the OUA with 17 assists.

Here's a look at the Mustangs in November by the numbers:
GP:    8
Record:    8-0
Goals For:  45
Assists For:  82
Goals Per Game:  5.62
Shots on Goal:  278
Shooting Percentage: 16.2%
PIM:   144
Powerplay Goals:  15
Powerplays:  65
Powerplay %:  23.1%
Goals Against:  20
Goals Against Per Game: 2.5
Saves:   203
Save %:   91.0%

HONORABLE MENTION: Western Mustangs men's volleyball team posting a 7-0 November record, losing just six sets.

WOMEN'S: WESTERN MUSTANGS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Western's women's basketball team posted a 7-1 record in the first-half of the season entering the holiday break against OUA opponents.

The Mustangs posted a perfect 4-0 record at home and lost just once in the month, a four-point decision against the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Western's defence has held opponents to under 70 points in all but two games (65 points against average), and all this with the loss of seven key players from last year's team including OUA MVP forward Bess Lennox, forwards Nadine Paron, Megan Lapointe and Lauren Chan, and guards Deena Kurilsky, Brittany Macdonald and Kim Hurley.

This year's team has five freshmen and one sophomore transfer and will only improve when Jacklyn Selfe is eligible in 2010.

Western is second in the OUA, sixth in the nation, averaging 74 points per game. 

The Mustangs are also nationally in the Top 5 in several other key categories including FG % (44.1%, 3rd in CIS, 1st OUA), total three pointers made per game (8.6, 2nd in CIS, T-2nd OUA), three-point % (38.2, 5th in CIS, 2nd OUA).

The numbers, too, could have been even better had stats been recorded in Nov. 20's game agaisnt RMC - the game was won by Western by forfeit against the winless Paladins.

Here is a look at the Mustangs November results:
Nov. 6  H Western 75 Laurentian 63
Nov. 7  H Western 69 York 54
Nov. 13  A Ottawa 81 Western 77
Nov. 15  A Western 67 Carleton 63
Nov. 20  N Western 1 RMC 0 (Mustangs won by forfeit)
Nov. 21  H Western 66 Queen's 53
Nov. 27  A Western 79 Ryerson 76
Nov. 28  A Western 84 Toronto 67

HONORABLE MENTION: Western Mustangs women's volleyball, only one loss in month, record of 5-1.