Box Score
Guelph, Ont. (February 13, 2014) - The Guelph Gryphon women's hockey team came out with a 3-1 win against the Waterloo Warriors in Game One of the OUA Quarterfinals on Thursday night at the Gryphon Centre. This is the first game of three in the OUA quarterfinals.
 
"We were expecting Waterloo to come out hard," said Gryphons head coach Rachel Flanagan, "We had a solid effort and we're looking forward to Saturday."
 
Waterloo and Guelph started the game out evenly matched, locked in a defensive back-and-forth. Christine Grant would start out shooting for the Gryphons after she took a shot from outside the crease. Unfortunately a slight hesitation had her shooting past the net. Both teams were plagued with turnovers, but it was the Warriors who were taking advantage of offensive opportunities. The Gryphons however were staying strong defensively, doing a good job at pushing the Warriors to the outside of the ice and then taking control of the puck.
 
The Warriors would get the first power play of the game after a tripping call against Kelly Gribbons at 6:01. It looked like Waterloo scored immediately off the face off, but Gryphon netminder Stephanie Nehring was able to smother the puck before the Waterloo players could push it in. The Gryphons successfully killed the penalty and the game remained scoreless.
 
The Gryphons would receive a power play later on in the first period after Waterloo player Siobhan Hewitt-Kenda (North Vancouver, B.C.) was called for tripping at 12:48. The Gryphons were quick to set up in the offensive zone, with Emily Corbett taking a shot from the point, but it unfortunately went off the iron. It would be a beautiful shot from the top of the circle by Leigh Shilton that would find the upper right-hand corner of the net and make it 1-0 for the Gryphons, with Jessica Pellegrino and Kaitlyn Mora on the assists at 13:54 on the power play.
 
Although they started off relatively slow offensively, the Gryphons would end the first period outshooting the Warriors with a total of 10-3.
 
The Gryphons came out aggressively to start the second period, dominating puck possession and capitalizing on scoring opportunities. The Warriors were back in the box early on in the second period after Lindsey McDonald (Ajax, Ont.) got four minutes for checking to the head at 1:45. The Gryphons were slow to set up in front of the net, but Amanda Parkins was able to get a shot off from the top of the circle at 4:01 on the power play to make it 2-0 for Guelph with Kimberley Wong and Cara Sayles on the assists.
 
The Gryphon defense consistently prevented the Warriors from getting a shot on goal in the second period, keeping them at only three shots on goal in the second period. Kimberley Wong had an impressive defensive play after scooping the puck off a Waterloo player's stick and taking the puck down for a one-on-one with Waterloo goalie Rebecca Bouwhuis (Orillia, Ont.), but wasn't able to find the net.
 
The Warriors upped the intensity in the third period, taking over control of the game offensively. They managed to find a hole through the Gryphon defense, and Carolyn Burke (Mississauga, Ont.) was able to use her speed to out skate Gryphon defenders and take a shot on net. After a couple rebounds Burke was able to finally punch the puck past Nehring and score Waterloo's first goal of the game making it 2-1 for Guelph at 7:51, with Nicole Ballantyne (Toronto) and Amy Bernard (Cambridge, Ont.) on the assists.
 
With 2:30 left in the game, the Warriors decided to pull their goalie in an attempt to tie the game up at the twos. The Gryphons were able to take control of the puck and beat the Warriors up to their open net, with Averi Nooren shooting from the blue line and making it 3-1 at 19:05.
 
Mora would earn herself a late penalty for checking to the head and Waterloo would pull their goalie a second time for a quick 6-on-4 advantage. They wouldn't be able to even it up and it would be a final score of 3-1 for the Gryphons.
 
The Gryphons would end up out shooting the Warriors 30-11.
 
The Gryphons hit the ice for Game Two of the OUA Quarterfinal match up against the Warriors on Saturday, February 15^th in Waterloo with the puck set to drop at 2:30 p.m.