GUELPH, Ont. – It's do or die. The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey faces elimination for the first time in the 2019 OUA postseason as they will head to Toronto tomorrow to determine their fate. The Gryphons overturned two-goal deficits twice but ultimately fell 6-5 in overtime to the Ryerson Rams on Matt Mistele's winner 6:50 into the extra session at the Gryphon Centre Arena.
 
Mistele scored his second of the night by capitalizing on a Guelph turnover and beating goaltender Andrew Masters with a low shot to extend the best-of-three OUA West semi-final series to a third and final game. It will take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre Sunday night with puck drop at 7:15 pm.
 
The latter part of the third period was utter chaos as Guelph erased a two-goal deficit for a second time in what was a wild game. The Gryphons made it 5-5 and earned a shot to advance in overtime thanks to Connor Bramwell's goal from the right side of the Ryerson net. The rookie forward beat Rams' goaltender Taylor Dupuis with 45 seconds left in regulation after the hosts had pulled Masters for an extra attacker.
 
Guelph made a spirited comeback to get it to 3-3 on Todd Winder's sixth of the playoffs but there would be plenty more scoring left in the closing minutes. Ryerson's Jesse Barwell scored twice just over two minutes apart to seemingly blow the game open at 5-3. He notched the unassisted go-ahead goal with 8:18 left in the third period when the Gryphons turned the puck over on the boards at the centre line allowing Barwell to steam in alone and finish through Masters' five-hole.
 
He would add another with 6:04 left for a two-goal lead but Ryan Valentini got one back for Guelph just 35 seconds later to make it 5-4
 
Stephen Templeton and Seth Swenson also scored for Guelph, while Masters made 35 saves.
 
The Gryphons have had to dig deep several times as they raised their level of play in the second half of the season. And that resolve was evident when they trailed 3-1 but refused to give up in front of their home fans. Swenson put Guelph within one when he got down low and deposited a rebound past Dupuis at 11:23 of the second period.
 
Winder, who seems like he was born to play postseason hockey, scored his sixth of the playoffs with just 36 seconds remaining before the second intermission for the all-important equalizer. The Uxbridge, ON native left the game temporarily when he was struck in the face in the first period but he was obviously ready to go and made Ryerson pay with a quick release from in close to tie the game 3-3.
 
Guelph spent much of the early part of the season trailing on home ice but that wasn't the case Saturday as the hosts got a dream start when the D-man Templeton was rewarded for jumping into the rush and scoring his first playoff goal at the 3:03 mark of the first.
 
The Rams showed why they won so many games this year by responding immediately on a Patrick Fellows goal just minutes later, the first of three straight from the visitors. Mistele and Devon Paliani would add power-play markers in the second period for what at the time was a big 3-1 lead. 

Gryphon Take
"We're a tale of two teams within the same series. We played so well at Ryerson, gave up few chances and were always on the right side of the puck. But tonight, we were sloppy, chased the puck and paid a price. We can't afford to try and trade chances with a team like Ryerson. We showed so much character coming back from two-goal deficits twice but we put ourselves in such a difficult spot. Tomorrow night, we'll have to get back to playing the kind of hockey that got us to this point." ~ Gryphon head coach Shawn Camp
 
Next up
OUA West Semi-final - Game 3 @ Ryerson, Sunday, February 24, 7:15pm