Guelph, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team will begin their hunt for the OUA Championship title when they kick off their OUA West quarter-final series this week against the Western Mustangs.
 
Game 1 of the series will be hosted by the Mustangs on Thursday, February 20^th at 7:00 p.m. at Thompson Arena in London, Ont.
 
Guelph, the eighth seeded team following the regular season, finished the year with an 12-12-4 mark while the Mustangs, the number one seed in the West conference were 21-6-1.
 
The two teams split their season series at one game apiece. The Gryphons, defeated the Mustangs 7-6 in an overtime thriller on February 1 to end a six game Western win streak. Western took their first game with a 4-0 final on January 23^rd.
 
For the Gryphons, the 2013-14 season has been one of transition for the program. With a number of rookies the young Gryphons have had their ups and downs. Although the team pulled out a win in their last meeting with Western the team enters the playoffs riding six losses in their last nine games and no wins in their last two regular season games.
 
"We are very excited to play Western.  We are a very young team that has worked hard all season.  We will have to match Western's speed and play a very disciplined series," said Gryphon head coach Shawn Camp.
 
The Gryphon offence has been led by second year Nicklas Huard his season with 18 goals and 19 assists. Meanwhile between the pipes the duo of Keith Hamilton and Andrew Loverock have played in 14 and 11 games respectively. Hamilton faced the Mustangs in both their regular season games this year.
 
In the Mustangs, the Gryphon face a tough challenge in goal with the second highest goals against during the regular season. Josh Unice heads into the playoffs ranked first in the OUA West and fourth in the OUA in save percentage at .927%.
 
The Mustangs boast a potent offence with the second highest goals scored in the OUA West during the regular season. Western's Daniel Erlich won the OUA scoring title, finishing the season with 50 points on 10 goals and 40 assists. Zach Harden and Matt Clarke finished the year with 41 and 40 points respectively. The three players will be key players the Gryphons will need to focus on shutting down.
 
The Gryphons will host the second game of the series on Saturday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Gryphon Centre. If game three is needed it will return to London on Sunday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m.