Western Mustangs men’s hockey team starts hot, eyes playoff return

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This has been a long time coming.

The Western men’s hockey team was one win from playing in the national final in 2020 before the onset of the COVID pandemic abruptly ended the tournament. The Mustangs have only appeared in one playoff game since and have missed the post-season the past two years.

But they have started this Ontario university season with an impressive 5-1 record and are carrying a four-game win streak heading into Friday’s game against Queen’s (7 p.m.) at Thompson arena.

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“It’s been a while since we’ve been there,” long-time head coach Clarke Singer said. “It’s still going to be a battle all the way through but I think our group has been rewarded for the work they’ve put in so far.”

Only six of 10 West conference teams will qualify for the playoffs this season. This is a much more balanced division than the Atlantic circuit, where New Brunswick ran the table last year.

“If you look at the scores, it feels like somebody is pulling their goalie every night,” Singer said. “We’ve had two overtime games and every other one, someone is pulling the goalie. That’s how close it is and it’s great for the league.”

The Mustangs roster is built on hungry returnees, traditional OHL graduates like former Brantford Bulldogs goalie Matteo Drobac and forward Lawson Sherk and some familiar names from the past.

Franco Sproviero, a 26-year-old ex-Sarnia Sting forward, is back at Western for teachers college and using his final year of eligibility granted during the cancelled COVID season.

“He had been coaching (with Junior B Komoka),” Singer said, “and now, when I yell at him, he says, ‘Yeah, I’d yell at myself, too, after I’ve been coaching.”

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Jr. Knights grad Aidan Prueter, now 22, started with Queen’s, sat out a full year at Western and is cleared to play. Harlan Orr, a 29-year-old forward from Vernon, B.C., played at McGill and is now with the Mustangs while studying medicine here.

“You add those guys to the mix and so far, we’ve been happy,” Singer said. “Maybe we haven’t been as successful in the win-loss column as we’d like (the past few years), but they’ve grown a lot.”

Singer dedicates Mondays to skill development with Wade Russell and Kevin Galerno while stressing strength and conditioning training.

“Every single player, we try to allow them to grow to be effective with us,” he said, “because most of them want to go on after they graduate and play pro hockey.”

The Canadian university hockey system is navigating uncharted waters at the moment. Most believe leagues like the OUA could see major impacts from a potential NCAA decision to allow major junior grads to play in the U.S. college ranks.

“The real challenge is nobody really seems to know what the change will be for sure,” Singer said. “We’ve talked to all kinds of people – advisors, agents, NCAA coaches, OHL teams – and there are still a lot of questions. Will they put a clock on it? Or just like a player from Michigan can go to Boston College, will anybody from, say, a University of Toronto or Nipissing be able to go and play for Michigan now right away?

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“The degree of impact is still to be determined and it’s difficult to speculate because we don’t know what the actual rule is going to encompass.”

For now, the Mustangs will focus on staying in first place and building the program. One of the Western team’s successful fundraisers – the 7th Man Dinner – will be held next Wednesday with special guests Elliotte Friedman and Arash Madani.

“You’re just trying to grow,” Singer said. “Having Elliotte (a Western grad) here in the past has been outstanding and he has a unique perspective being inside the game of hockey. It’s going to be very entertaining with the two of them sharing their insights and some great stories.”

It’s well-timed with the Mustangs starting to write a pretty good one on the ice.

rpyette@postmedia.com

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