The Guelph Gryphons are showing they are a team who might not be fun to play against in the playoffs.  In a tidy and disciplined road game the Gryphons won a hard fought 3-2 battle over the Western Mustangs in shootout on Saturday.  The game was fast paced and physical and a great advertisement for what OUA hockey is about.

Western opened the scoring in the first minute on a quick shot by Randy Hanagan.  The rest of the period was back and forth and evenly played.  The shots were 17 apiece after the first period.

In the second the Gryphons managed the equalizer on a terrific wrist shot by defenceman Ken Peroff (Astorville) who jumped into the attack and was set up by Thomas Kiriakou (Richmond Hill) and Zach Lillie (Bracebridge).  Guelph outshot Western 17-10 in the period.

The Gryphons pressured the Western defence in the third period and scored the go ahead goal on a screened shot by Ed Gale (Keswick) off a rush set up by Kiriakou.  Western replied before the end of the period on a goal by Chris Rocca to even the score at two and send the affair to overtime.

The shots were even at two in overtime with no decisive goal so the game was decided in shootout.  Only J.T. Macdonald (Niagara Falls) managed to score giving the Gryphons not only the win but securing home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Andrew Loverock was stellar in nets for Guelph as was Josh Unice for Western with Unice being the busier of the two with Guelph outshooting Western 51-38. Guelph was 0/3 on the powerplay while Western was 0/1.

The men's hockey team finished the regular season fourth in the OUA West with a 15-10-3 record.  They will now play in a three-game series with the fifth place Brock Badgers.  The Gryphons earned home-ice advantage in the series. The Gryphons now open their best of three playoff series at home Thurs. Feb. 17 vs. the Brock Badgers @ 7:30.  Game two is scheduled for Brock on Fri. @ 7:15 and game three if necessary will be back in Guelph on Sun. Feb. 20 @ 7:30.