ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team are starting to make a habit of spoiling Brock's homecoming.
On Friday night (Sept. 13) in front of a sold out crowd of 4,752 fans at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, the Gryphons picked up a 4-1 win over the Brock Badgers in the 21st edition of the Steel Blade Classic, an annual preseason game which serves as the marquee event of Brock University's official homecoming.
Connor Bramwell,
Stephen Templeton,
Giordano Finoro and
Andrew Dodson were the goal scorers for the Gryphons, who have now won two of the past three Steel Blade matchups with Brock.
"The Steel Blade Classic sets the tempo for the hockey season," said Gryphons head coach
Shawn Camp. "This game means so much to us, because it's historical and it's a privilege for our team. There's an education piece to this game."
After a scoreless first period, the Gryphons exploded for three consecutive goals in the second courtesy of Connor Bramwell, Stephen Templeton and Giordano Finoro.
Gryphon goalie
Andrew Masters had his bid for a shutout spoiled by a Brock power play goal in the 3rd period which made it a 3-1 game. But a late goal from Andrew Dodson restored the three-goal cushion for the visitin Gryphons and capped off a memorable 4-1 win for the Gryphs in what was the opening game of their 2019-20 preseason schedule.
"We were an unknown quantity, because we had so many changes this year and so many new players, so it was kind of exciting to see what we have under the hood," added Shawn Camp, now in his 13th season as head coach of the University of Guelph men's hockey program. "We graduated a lot of guys last year, but we had returning guys who've had taste of the grind of the playoffs and getting to nationals and also the disappointment of not getting it done when we were right there."
The Gryphons will play a total of four preseason games before traveling to the University of Toronto on Friday, October 4 for their 2019-20 OUA regular season opener.
