GUELPH, Ont. – In what was their biggest game of the season, the Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team produced one of their most dominant performances of the entire 2018-19 campaign. Saturday night on home ice, the Gryphons won 6-1 over the Western Mustangs to even their OUA West Finals series at a game apiece. The series will now shift back to London for a Sunday night matchup in a decisive Game 3 where the winner will book a spot in the 108th Queen's Cup (OUA championship game).
 
Needing a win to keep their OUA title hopes alive, the Gryphons were able to score the all-important first goal on Saturday night thanks to a pair of talented, mid-season additions. Midway through the opening period, Ryan Valentini's shot would be re-directed in by Mikkel Aagaard to give the Gryphons a 1-0 lead.

Aagaard, a first-year Arts student from Frederikshavn, Denmark, has been the hottest player in the OUA this postseason, and added to his incredible playoff totals Saturday night with 2 goals and 1 assist. Aagaard now has 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 7 postseason games played to lead the conference.
 
The Gryphons, who outshot Western 23-6 through the first two periods of play, would add to their lead midway through the 2nd period. Fifth-year senior Tryg Strand would cap the final home game of his Gryphon career by scoring on the backhand at 14:09 of the 2nd period to put the Gryphons up 2-0. Two minutes and 47 seconds later, Ryan Valentini would score his 5th goal of the playoffs, helping the host Gryphons take a commanding 3-0 lead into the final period.
 
Goals 10 seconds apart from Aagaard and Connor Bramwell would extend the lead to 5-0, chasing Western goalie Luke Peresinni. With the outcome never in doubt, things would get chippy late, with the two teams combining for 28 minutes of penalties in the 3rd period alone. Three different Gryphon players recorded multi-point nights, including a 4-assist performance from Cody Thompson. Gryphon goalie Andrew Masters had a relatively quiet night in net, facing just 18 shots on the night in the win.

In two home matchup versus Western this season, the Gryphons have outscored the Mustangs 13-2 (won 7-1 back on Jan. 19).
 
The Gryphons will now head back to London for Game 3 Sunday night (7pm) at Thompson Arena. The winner of Sunday night's game will head to Kingston to face the Queen's Gaels in the 108th Queen's Cup. The loser of Sunday's game will head to Carleton for the OUA bronze medal game, the winner of which will claim the OUA's third and final berth to the U SPORTS Championships (March 14-17 in Lethbridge). 
 
GRYPHON TAKE
"We needed a big response after a game on the road the other night where we thought we played too loose. Tonight, we tightened it up a bit and the guys really played well. We were jumping early and were on the right side of the puck all net and were able to get pucks to the net. We know Western will be better Sunday night, so it will be a tough test for us heading in there, but it's right in front of us now and opportunities like this is what the playoffs is all about." ~ Gryphon head coach Shawn Camp
 
THE SERIES
Game 1:  Western won 4-3 (Feb. 28, 2019)
Game 2:  Guelph won 6-1 (March 2, 2019)
Game 3:  Sunday, March 3, 2019 – 7pm in London