The Guelph Gryphon women's hockey team needed two overtimes, but Tori Woods (Orangeville, Ont.) scored the game winner to give Guelph the 2-1 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues this afternoon (Feb. 20) in an OUA quarter-final game played at the Gryphon Centre.

Despite an early Toronto goal it looked like the Gryphons would run away with the game, firing shots from all angles at Toronto goalie Nicole Kesteris (Aurara, Ont.), who would face 44 shots in total and make an impressive 42 saves, in the loss.

The points were evenly spread for the Gryphons with Tamara Bell (Guelph, Ont.) and Tori Woods potting goals, while Carla D'Angelo (Hamilton, Ont.) and Jenna Lanzarotta (Mississuaga, Ont.) tallied a pair of assists each. Danielle Skoufranis (Thornhill, Ont.) was given the nod for the Gryphons this afternoon and had a solid performance, making 18 saves on 19 shots and picking up the win.

Guelph played a strong first period, skating and dominating in puck position. Toronto's Darby Smith (Madoc, Ont.) opened the scoring in the first period at the 10-minute mark to give the Varsity Blues a 1-0 lead. Kelly O'Hanlon (Markham, Ont.) picked up the helper. The Gryphons had a few good chances in the first including two power-play opportunities down the stretch but they were left scoreless as Toronto's all-rookie goalie stood on her head.  At the end of the first the Gryphons outshot Toronto 15-7.

In the second period the Gryphons dominated the play and outshot Toronto 13-4 and had three power play opportunities.  Kesteris continued to play strong and almost stopped all Gryphon attempts until Guelph's Tamara Bell scored the tying goal on a power-play with two minutes left in the period. Bell trickled the puck past the five-hole of Kesteris for the equalizer with D'Angelo and Lanzarotta tallying the assists.

In the third period, a scramble in front of the Toronto net caused a number of players to tobble on Kesteris with four minutes remaining in the game.  After a few minutes on the ice with the team trainers Kesteris recovered to stay in the game.

Guelph had several chances to end the game in regulation, but Kesteris stood tall making timely saves to send the game to overtime. By the end of the third, the Gryphons outshot Toronto an incredible 40-15.

An exciting 10 minute overtime featured lots of action however the period solved nothing, sending both teams into the locker room still deadlocked one-all.

Six minutes into the start of the second overtime, Guelph's Tori Woods scored the game winner to give the Gryphons the win. Once again Lanzarotta and D'Angela picked up the helpers.

The Gryphons now advance to a best-of-three series against the Brock Badgers who finished second in the OUA and earned a bye through the first round of playoffs.  Game dates and times are yet to be determined, stay tuned to gryphons.ca for the most up-to-date playoff information.