GUELPH, Ont. – In the opening round of the OUA playoffs, the Gryphons needed to use all three of the games at their disposal in order to eliminate the Windsor Lancers in their best-of-three OUA West Quarter-final series. If the Gryphs are to survive their second-round playoff opponent, they will need to go the distance again. Thursday night in Guelph, the No. 5-seeded Brock Badgers stunned the OUA West's top-seeded Gryphons with a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory at the Gryphon Centre. The Gryphs, who held a 3-1 lead late in the 2nd period, made a pair of uncharacteristic turnovers late in the game, leading to the tying and winning goals for the visiting Badgers. The Gryphons will now look to even the series at a game apiece on Saturday night when the series shifts to the Seymour-Hannah Arena in St. Catharines. A win on Saturday night by the Gryphons would set up a return to Guelph for a decisive Game 3 on Sunday evening.
 
For the majority of Thursday night's game, the Brock Badgers were doing all they could just to stay within striking distance of the high-flying Gryphons. Guelph outshot Brock 42-24 on the evening and were in the driver's seat midway through the game after building up a 3-1 lead. The Gryphons also got off to a fast start on Thursday night, with J.P. Villeneuve banging home a rebound to opening the scoring just over three minutes into the opening period. After Brock tied the game at 1-1, the Gryphons would re-take the lead thanks to their star rookie, Todd Winder. The first-year forward, who scored a team-high 18 goals during the regular season, would score his OUA-leading 6th goal of the playoffs midway through the 2nd period after pouncing on a rebound and firing one to the back of the net just moments after a U of G power play opportunity had expired. Just over a minute later, the Gryphons would strike again. After a great effort by Gryphons' first-year defenceman Mathieu Henderson to keep the puck in the offensive end of the ice, it would be team captain Scott Simmonds re-directing one past Brock goalie Clint Windsor to put the No. 6-nationally ranked Gryphons on top 3-1.
 
But the Badgers were given a lift when Cosimo Fontana scored with just :29 seconds remaining in the 2nd period to make it a one-goal game after 40 minutes of play. The Gryphons then came close to re-establishing their two goal lead with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation when Marc Stevens found himself alone in front of the Brock net. Stevens appeared to have Badgers' goalie Clint Windsor down and out, but the former Ottawa 67's netminder extended his left pad to deny Stevens and keep it a one-goal game.

Clint Windsor, who led the OUA in saves (822) as well as save percentage (.930) during the regular season, helped keep the Badgers alive through the first two periods, with Guelph outshooting Brock 18-8 in the 1st and 15-5 in the 2nd.
 
With just over three minutes remaining in the 3rd period, Brock forward Cosimo Fontana would take advantage of a Gryphon turnover and tuck a sharp-angled shot just under Andrew Masters' crossbar to tie the game at 3-3. In overtime, Brock would go on to complete the comeback, but not without some controversy. Gryphons' veteran defenceman Reilly O'Connor appeared to be tripped up by a Brock forechecker while trying to lead a breakout from behind his own net. The referee's whistle would stay in his pocket, however, allowing play to continue with Badgers' forward Ayden MacDonald becoming the benefactor of the Gryphon turnover deep in the U of G end of the ice. From point blank, MacDonald would fire a shot past the glove hand of Andrew Masters to seal the 4-3 OT victory for the Badgers.
 
The Gryphons, who won three of their four head-to-head meetings with Brock during the regular season, will now look to rebound when the two teams meet up again on Saturday night in St. Catharines. It is a familiar road trip for the Gryphons, who made a total of three trips to the Seymour-Hannah Arena during the regular season, winning two of those games. Puck drop on Saturday night is set for 7:15pm and can be seen live online at oua.tv.