GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team picked a good time for their best performance on home ice this season. With a packed house of OAC students and alum in the stands, the Gryphons were on their game, defeating the York Lions 5-2 on the 3
rd annual Aggies Night at Gryphon Centre Arena.
It was a huge victory for the Gryphons, their first at the home barn this year. The annual affair celebrates the Ontario Agricultural College, its staff, students and alumni, while also acknowledging the legacy of the term 'Aggies,' which was the original name of sports teams on campus dating back to 1880.
The raucous Aggies Night crowd celebrates a Guelph goal
Cody Thompson had two goals and an assist, while
Matt Kenney,
Marc Stevens, and
Nick Boyer also scored for Guelph. Goaltender
Evan Cormier was phenomenal in making 25 saves, many of them huge stops. One of Cormier's best sequences came five minutes into the second period with the score 1-0 for Guelph. He planted his left pad down on the ice to stop a great York chance from in close and then handled a quick second attempt after the rebound.
The save was timely because the Gryphons would extend the lead to 2-0 a few minutes later when Thompson sprung captain
Scott Simmonds, who found a streaking Stevens at the back post of Mack Shields's net at the 8:37 mark.
York got on the board later in the second period after Sam Filice grabbed his own rebound and lifted a backhander over Cormier, who had made the initial save. But the Gryphons reestablished the two-goal cushion on a beautiful shot from Thompson, who charged in down the left wing and picked the top corner early in the third period for the eventual game-winning goal. Boyer made it 4-1 with good work down low and though York's Josh LaFrance would score the visitors' second late in the third, Thompson put a bow on the night with an empty netter.
The crowd was fired up pregame as OAC Dean Rene Van Acker and Athletics Director Scott McRoberts helped honour student-athlete Aggies Erika Barton of the three-time defending OUA champion women's rugby team and Mark Bujnowski, the reigning U SPORTS track and field Rookie of the Year. The Gryphons used the energy in the building to produce a good start, with an early chance from
Stephen Hiff, who was denied by Shields on a short-side attempt from the low right circle.
Guelph kept up the pressure but the penalty-killing unit, which entered the night ranked third in the OUA (89.8 per cent) had a test midway through the opening period. The Gryphons did their job and got back to even strength, eventually getting a reward for the strong period when York turned it over in its own zone, allowing Kenney to stride through the slot and rifle a low shot past Shields for a 1-0 lead at the 13:51 mark.
That goal got Guelph on track and the hosts never looked back, doing the necessary work, including blocking several Lions' shots, to secure the all-important first home victory. The Gryphons have now won three of four, while also snapping York's four-game win streak.
Gryphon Take
"Our team all came together. We made some big plays, defensively and offensively. It had gotten out of hand, we hadn't won at home in a while. We desperately needed to do that. The boys all played together and we finally got some puck luck.
"As a group, we've all been underproducing. We all wish we had a couple more goals, a couple more assists. Whether that's bad bounces, we have one of the best teams in the OUA. Especially up front, we have a lot of horses. Some of our guys are out but we still have a great enough team to win. For whatever reason, we haven't been able to score. Tonight was a blast finally having the pucks go in with Corms making the saves when we needed them and our D doing a great job shutting them down." –
Fourth-year forward Cody Thompson
"It was such a thrill tonight because it was Aggies Night. It certainly gave the guys a little extra jump, having their enthusiasm made a nice difference. We played through the game. We've had other home games where we've had little sags, in the second periods especially but tonight we played right through that. Our effort was real solid from beginning to end. Hopefully, we can get on a little bit of a roll here just before the break and finish up strong so we put ourselves back in that mix again."
"Our level of desperation was higher tonight. Guys felt that enough was enough. We've been so good at home over the years and this has been a bit of an anomaly." –
head coach Shawn Camp
The Record
Guelph is 5-7-0-2.
Next up
@ Windsor, Saturday, Nov. 24, 7:30 pm
