The Guelph Gryphon's men's hockey team took on the Lakehead Thunderwolves tonight (Feb 15^th) in Guelph for the first of the best of three OUA West Division play-offs. The Gryphons were trailing behind the Thunderwolves for much of the game until they turned it around with a major comeback finishing 5-4.

Jon-Thomas MacDonald (Niagara Falls, ON) led the Gryphons with a hat-trick, along with a goal from both Kristafer Belan (Florence, ON) and Justin Gvora (Thunder Bay, ON).

The game started out with a Gryphon advantage after an early goal was pocketed by MacDonald with an assist from Marco Franchini (Woodbridge, ON) at 2:29. Midway through the first the Thunderwolves tied up the game with a goal from Devin Welsh (Winnipeg, ON) after firing past Gryphon goalie Cody St Jacques (Iroquois Falls, ON).

With only two minutes and thirty seconds left on the board the Thunderwolves took the lead with a goal from Thomas Frazee (Vancouver, BC). In the aftermath of their second goal, the Thunderwolves managed to work their way past Gryphon defence once more and Jake Carrick (Stoufville, ON) grabbed another before the whistle blew.

The Gryphons entered the second period knowing they had a lot of work to do. Lakehead put one more goal on the board at 6:47 after Ryan Magill (Thunder Bay, ON) managed to slip the puck behind St Jacques before he could respond.
  Midway through the Gryphons had a 5-to-3 man advantage after penalties against Lakehead for roughing were called, but they couldn't make use of it. Minutes later the Gryphons finally broke the dry spell with a great play set up by Matthew Lyall (Richmond Hill, ON) and Edward Gale (Keswick, ON) outside the Thunderwolves' net on a power-play, giving Belan the perfect shot.  

Only seconds later MacDonald had a breakaway down the left wing, fired into the top-shelf, and scored his second of the night. At the end of the second period the score sat at 4-3 for the Thunderwolves and the Gryphons were back in the game. 

At only 1:23 in the third Guelph managed to tie up the score. Barrett Brook (Leduc, AB) got hold of the puck as he was just inside the blue line, and he passed to Gvora who was perfectly positioned outside the net. In one swift movement Gvora deflected the puck in, reigniting the Gryphon's confidence.

At 6:29 the Gryphons finally overtook the Thunderwolves with a hat-trick from MacDonald leaving the score 5-4 in Guelph's advantage. The last few minutes of the game were intense with the Thunderwolves determined to redeem the score, but they couldn't break through Gryphon defence before the clock ran out.

With the first game of the best of three in the bag, the Gryphons are going on the road to Thunder Bay for game two on Feb. 17th against Lakehead. The game begins at 730pm.  If game three is necessary it will be in Thunder Bay on Saturday (Feb. 18) at 7:30 p.m.