TORONTO, ON - Wednesday night at York University, the Gryphons men's hockey team had the No. 2-seeded York Lions on the ropes in Game 1 of their OUA West Semi-final series. The Gryphons led 1-0 after the opening period, and 2-1 after the the 2nd period. In the playoffs however, letting your guard down for even just a second can prove costly. In this case, the Gryphons let their guard down for a span of 54 seconds. And it was costly. York scored a pair of goals just 54 seconds apart early in the 3rd period to propel them to a 3-2 win. The Gryphons will now be fighting to keep their season alive when they return home for Game 2 of the series on Thursday night.

No team in the OUA was tougher to score against during the regular season than the York Lions who allowed a league-low 58 goals. Just 1:32 into the opening period of play however, the Gryphons would score the game's opening goal when assistant captain Mac Nichol let a wrist shot go from the point that found its way through a crowd and into the back of the net to give the Gryphs an early 1-0 lead. Midway through the 2nd period, York would tie the game at 1-1, but it would not stay that way for long as the Gryphons would answer just 59 seconds later with Rob Lepine potting a rebound to give the visitors a 2-1 lead heading to the 3rd period.

Just over a minute into the final period, York would tie the game at 2-2 when a shot deflected off Derek Sheppard and in. Less than a minute later, the Lions would score once again, this time on a power play as Lions forward Trevor Petersen fired home a one-timer to give York a 3-2 lead. The closest the Gryphons would come to tying the game would be a shot that trickled through Lions goalie Mack Shields but was cleared from danger by York captain Shayne Rover. Shields, who led the OUA with a 1.78 goals against average during the regular season, made several big stops on the night and finished with 22 saves on 24 Gryphon shots sent his way. U of G goalie Scott Stajcer also had a strong performance, making 26 saves on 29 shots in the losing effort.  

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is set for Thursday night (Feb. 23) at 7:30pm at the Gryphon Centre. Should the Gryphons win that game, a decisive Game 3 would go Saturday night back at York.
 

---