GUELPH, Ont. – The quest for a third consecutive OUA title for the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team is still very much alive. Only now, there is no margin for error. On Wenesday night at the Gryphon Centre, the visiting Western Mustangs escaped Guelph with a 1-0 win in the opening game of the OUA Semi-final best-of-three series. The lone goal of the game was scored by Western fifth year forward Megan Taylor who potted a rebound early in the 3rd period during a Western power play opportunity, giving the Mustangs an important Game 1 win. The two-time defending OUA champion Gryphons will now look to extend their season and force a decisive Game 3 when the series shifts to London on Friday night for Game 2.
The fact that Wednesday night's contest was such a tightly-contested matchup came as no surprise considering how evenly matched the two teams were during the regular season.
Both the Gryphons and Mustangs finished the 24-game regular season schedule deadlocked with 50 points apiece, with Guelph earning the No. 2 seed thanks to a pair of victories over Western in their head-to-head meetings.
"We knew it was going to be a battle," said Gryphons head coach
Rachel Flanagan. "We know they have one of the best power plays in the country, but five-on-five we felt we were the better team. Our focus remains the same going into Friday. We have to put pucks on net and fight to find rebounds."
Finding the back of the net was not an issue for the Gryphons during their two regular season wins over Western. In those two contests, the Gryphons racked up 9 goals on the Mustangs (with a 4-3 overtime win in London followed by a 5-2 win in Guelph). On Wednesday night, however, the Gryphons were unable to find a breakthrough against the OUA's third-ranked defensive team. Western's rookie goalie Carmen Lasis, who ranked 4th in the OUA with a 1.48 goals against average during the regular season, turned away all 23 of the shots sent her way for the shutout. Lasis was certainly good. And at times, she was also lucky. The Gryphons' best scoring chance came just over four minutes into the final period when a point shot from
Katherine Bailey was deflected by rookie forward
Miranda Lantz. The tipped shot beat Lasis, but not the post.
During the regular season, no power play unit in the OUA was better than the Western Mustangs, who scored a conference-best 19 times on the man advantage (converting on an OUA-best 20.9% of their opportunities).
The dangerous Western power play would prove to be the difference in Game 1. Just :16 seconds after Gryphon defenceman Katie Mikkelsen was sent to the box for interference, the Mustangs would finally solve
Valerie Lamenta when Evra Levesque's shot was kicked away by Lamenta, but right to the stick of Megan Taylor who fired home her first of the postseason.
It was the only blemish for Lamenta who made several big stops on the night, including a breakaway save in the 1st period for one of her 18 saves on the evening.
The No. 2-seeded Gryphons will now look to bounce back on Friday evening in London, with puck drop at Thompson Arena set for 7pm. Friday night's Game 2 can be seen live online at oua.tv. Should the Gryphons come up with a win on Friday, the series would then shift back to Guelph on Sunday afternoon for a decisive Game 3.
