GUELPH, Ont. – Life has been a grind on home ice for the Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team. But the Gryphons showed plenty of heart to salvage an important point Thursday night. Guelph scored two late goals 10 seconds apart to force an overtime period but the York Lions came away with a 4-3 shootout win at Gryphon Centre Arena.
Captain
Scott Simmonds scored with four minutes remaining in the third period to get the Gryphons within a goal at 3-2 and on the ensuing face off, the hosts stormed into the zone and newcomer
Ryan Valentini immediately banged home a rebound, shocking the Lions.
That forced overtime and despite several chances from the Gryphons in the extra session, it went to a shootout where York's Josh LaFrance had the only goal in the second of three rounds. Rookie
Connor Bramwell had a chance to extend it but his attempt was saved by Lions' goaltender Mack Shields, who faced 49 shots from a hungry Guelph offence.
Ryan Valentini celebrates the Guelph equalizer
Cody Thompson had the other goal for Guelph, which has a single win at home in nine games.
Andrew Masters made his third consecutive start and stopped 36 of 39 shots that came his way. Masters had his best sequence in the final minute of overtime when he made three consecutive saves in a desperate goalmouth scramble.
It was the third time the teams met this season with Guelph also falling 4-3 in a shootout back on Oct. 13 in Toronto before defeating the Lions soundly in a 5-2 win on Aggies Night Nov. 22, the only win at Gryphon Centre Arena on the year.
A frustrating stretch midway through the second period proved costly for the hosts. With the score tied 1-1, York's Reid Jackman shook off a defender in the left circle before roofing a shot on Masters's glove side at the 9:48 mark. Less than two minutes later, the Lions extended the lead as defenceman Ben Verrall got loose in the slot and fired one in for a 3-1 lead.
Guelph started strong and went up 1-0 just 2:37 in when Thompson notched his team-high 10
th goal of the season on a fantastic breakout from the top line. Simmonds found
Todd Winder (two assists) in the right circle and the second-year forward dropped a nice pass into the slot, which Thompson buried into the top left corner over the blocker of Shields. Simmonds, who finished a pass from Boyer to begin the late rally, has a team-high 18 points on the year.
The Gryphons got their first power-play opportunity later in the period but it was the Lions who were able to equalize when captain Scott Feser took a couple swipes at the puck down low and got the second one past a screened Masters. That was the first of three unanswered goals for York before Guelph seized control back in the third period.
Gryphon Take
"For most of the third period, we played the right way and got a result. That was critical. We gave ourselves every chance to win in that period after sagging in the second. We're a team that has struggled to score this year. We had an offensive explosion against Ryerson but we struggled again tonight. Good on the guys to stay with it and put in the effort to get that much-needed point."
– head coach Shawn Camp
The Record
Guelph is 7-9-0-3 (wins-losses-OT losses-SO losses)
Next up
@ Toronto, Saturday, Jan. 11, 7 pm
