GUELPH, Ont. – The Waterloo Warriors spoiled the party at the 2019-20 edition of the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey home opener, with the visiting Warriors leaving the Gryphon Centre with a 5-1 win over the defending OUA and U SPORTS champions. The Gryphons trailed 2-1 heading to the 3rd period, but a trio of Waterloo goals in the final 20 minutes, two of which came on the power play, would ultimately give Waterloo the win. With the result, the Gryphons fall to 1-1-0 on the season while Waterloo improves to 2-0-0.
Prior to the game, the Gryphons recognized their 2018-19 national championship winning team, with a new U SPORTS banner hanging from the rafters of the Gryphon Centre Arena following the team's national title run a season ago.
Lauren Ianni was a rookie on that team a season ago, and now the standout sophomore, who has been named an assistant captain for the 2019-20 campaign, was doing her part to make the home opener a successful one as her goal in the opening period came just :29 seconds after the Warriors had taken a 1-0 lead.
For the first time in program history, a women's hockey national championship banner now hangs in the Gryphon Centre
For Ianni, it marked her 2nd goal in as many games.
But the emotions from the celebration of the U SPORTS banner raising would perhaps give way to fatigue for the Gryphons, who were dealing with a short turnaround on Saturday afternoon after having just played the previous night on the road at Laurier. The Warriors would pull away in the final period, capitalizing with a pair of power play goals to end the hopes of a Gryphon comeback.
"Quick turnarounds are not an excuse for the way we played today," said Gryphons head coach
Rachel Flanagan. "We played pretty undisciplined and a little bit selfish. Our puck support and decision-making just wasn't there today. We were disappointed we weren't able to put on a better effort in front of our alumni today, but we'll just need to re-focus and move forward. We really believe in this group. The bar is high for them. There's disappointment from today, but we have to turn our attention to getting back on track next week."
The Gryphons will next be in action on Thursday, Oct. 24 when they head to the Sleeman Centre to host the Western Mustangs in the
inaugural edition of the Fall Faceoff. It will also mark the first half of a home-and-home with the Mustangs, with Guelph heading to London on Saturday (Oct. 26).
