WINDSOR, Ont. – The Gryphons men's hockey team earned the right to have home-ice advantage in the playoffs after matching a school record with 21 wins during the regular season. The Gryphs will now need to take advantage of that home-ice advantage with a decisive Game 3 in the OUA West Quarter-finals looming less than 24 hours away. Saturday evening at South Windsor Arena, the No. 8-seeded Lancers edged the top-seeded Gryphons 4-3 to tie the best-of-three series at 1-1. The series will now shift back to Guelph to be decided on Sunday night (Feb. 18) at the Gryphon Centre.
 
Following a 3-1 win on home ice on Thursday evening, the No. 6 nationally-ranked Gryphons made the trip to Windsor Saturday looking for a sweep of the Lancers. After falling behind 2-0 after the 1st period, the Gryphs responded nicely in the 2nd period with a pair of goals just :52 seconds apart. Fourth year forward Trevor Morbeck got the Gryphons on the board by crashing the net and putting home a rebound to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Rookie Todd Winder would strike on the power play for the Gryphons less than a minute later, tying the game at 2-2 heading to the final period. Winder now has 3 goals in 2 playoff games, only McGill's Guillaume Gauthier (4 goals) has scored more goals in the 2018 OUA playoffs.
 
In the 3rd, the Lancers would answer with a pair of quick goals themselves, with Kyle Hope and Ian Parker scoring just :20 seconds apart midway through the period. The Gryphons were able to make it a one-goal game with 1:41 to play when Max McCutcheon's point shot found the back of the net, but it was as close as the Gryphons would get as the Lancers would hold on for the 4-3 win.
 
Windsor played the game with backup goalie Matt Badour, who was given the start in place of the injured Jonathan Reinhart who suffered an eye injury in Game 1 on Thursday. Badour was solid in net for the Lancers, turning away 32 of the 35 shots sent his way for the win. Gryphons rookie goalie Andrew Masters also made several big stops on the night to keep the Gryphons in it and finished the game with 28 saves on 32 shots. The chippy affair saw the two teams combine for 42 minutes in penalties.
 
The Gryphons will now return to the Gryphon Centre where they have won 11 of the 14 games played on campus (including Thursday's Game 1 win over Windsor). Puck drop for Sunday night's Game 3 is set for 7:30pm and can be seen live online at oua.tv.