GUELPH, ON – The Laurentian Voyageurs came to the Gryphon Centre on Saturday with their season on the line, and they played like it.
 
Now the Guelph Gryphons must do the same thing on Sunday.
 
The eighth-seeded Voyageurs stunned the top-ranked Gryphs 3-2 to even their OUA women's hockey quarter-final playoff series 1-1, handing Guelph its first loss since November.
 
The best-of-three series will be decided on Sunday at the Gryphon Centre. Game time is 2 p.m. The winner advances to the Ontario semifinals.
 
"We knew we were playing a tough, disciplined team today," Gryphs head coach Rachel Flanagan said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get going until the last five minutes of the game."
 
Laurentian led 3-0 before Guelph finally got some sustained pressure in the visitors' end and scored two late goals to make for an exciting finish. But it was too little, too late, and the Gryphs' 12-game winning streak came to an end.
 
"We knew going into this series that we hadn't lost in a long time, and sometimes you forget what it feels like to lose. I think there was a little bit of that today," Flanagan said.
 
"And as much as we wanted to wrap (the series) up today, it's not a bad thing to get a loss under our belts and for the girls to feel that, and not dwell on it and be negative, but look at it as a learning opportunity. They know that in the last five minutes, they had a really good opportunity to tie that game up. It didn't happen and we didn't quite finish the job, but when you play like that for only five minutes, that's what happens."
 
The teams played a scoreless first period before Laurentian took control in the middle frame on goals by Morgan McCann and Taylor Weber. Ellery Veerman scored her team's third goal on a power play eight minutes into the third period, and it turned out to be the winner.
 
The Voyageurs are making their first OUA playoff appearance in their third season in the league, and Saturday's game marked their first win. They brought along a large and loud contingent of fans who dominated the Guelph supporters at the Gryphon Centre, and the Voyageurs seemed to thrive on that energy. Although the visitors were outshot 31-26, they made the most of their offensive chances.
 
"Everything is exciting for them. Every time they had a rush, it was exciting," Flanagan said. "We need some of that energy on our bench as well. One of our messages going forward is that everything has to be exciting; every play has to be a big play, and we need to be excited about it."
 
"It's clear that they're energized and they want to win," agreed Gryphs captain Jessica Pinkerton. "They showed that today. We've just got to match them, and be better."
 
Pinkerton scored Guelph's second goal with 1:26 left on the clock and goalie Valerie Lamenta on the bench in favour of an extra attacker. Kaitlin Lowy had spoiled the shutout bid of Laurentian's Emily Toffoli four minutes earlier.
 
Both the coach and the captain said the Gryphs will put Saturday's loss behind them and be ready to play for their lives on Sunday.
 
"I think they're okay," Flanagan said. "They're a confident group and they're very supportive of each other. They still have a positive outlook and they know that they probably didn't play their best game today. I think they believe that if we bring our best effort, we have a really good chance of cleaning this series up tomorrow."

"We'll be fine," Pinkerton added. "We know to just stay positive, and we know that if we play our game, we'll be all right. We've just got to outwork them and play with heart."
 
One other OUA quarter-final series will be decided on Sunday afternoon, with No. 2 seed Toronto playing host to seventh-ranked Laurier. The other matchups ended in two-game sweeps, with No. 3 Western eliminating No. 6 Waterloo, and No. 4 Nipissing ousting No. 5 Queen's.