GUELPH, Ont. - After what could only be described as a hard fought three game series win over the Laurier Golden Hawks, the Guelph Gryphons quickly found themselves right back in that same kind of situation Thursday night at the Gryphon Centre. Playing host to the Brock Badgers in game one of their best of three OUA West semi-final, Guelph was put to the test by the Badgers but still able to come away with a 3-2 victory to pull themselves within just one win of returning to the Western finals.
In a contest that saw these two rivals exchange chances for a full sixty minutes, the Gryphons were able to convert just that little bit more to pick up the win.
For Guelph, there was a feeling out process to start the game and through the first ten minutes or so elected to play a bit more on the defensive side. However, it did not take the Gryphon's offence much time to start clicking afterwards. With a little under eight minutes to play in the opening period, the Gryphons got their cycle game going deep in the Badger's zone. As a result of that, a loose puck out front wound up on the back-hand of Luke Kutkevicius and he flipped it up and over Brock goalie Mario Culina to put the home side on the board. Riding that momentum wave, Guelph quickly doubled their advantage. Just over a minute and a half after the Gryphons scored, Todd Winder forced a turnover in his own zone, flew down the right wing and unleashed a beautiful shot off the far post and in to make it 2-0.
Despite the intermission, there was very little momentum lost for the home team. Continuing to carry much of the play as the second period got underway, the Gryphons stayed on the attack and would be rewarded in swift fashion. Hardly two minutes in to the middle frame Ryan Obonsawin found Andrew Dodson breaking towards the Badger's slot. After receiving the pass, Dodson was able to cut to his left before firing a wrist-shot past Culina giving Guelph a 3-0 lead. With seemingly having all momentum on their side and a healthy lead on the scoreboard, the Gryphs appeared to be in good shape to take game one, however, in typical Brock fashion, the Badgers would not go away without putting up a fight. Coming back with a response, the visitors were able to get on the board for the first time a little over four minutes after the Dodson goal. Breaking in on a 2-on-1 Badger's forwards Christian Girhiny and Connor Brown passed back and forth to each other before Girhiny was able to find the back of the net, getting the puck up and over the pad of Gryphon's goalie Brendan Cregan.
With the score remaining 3-1 heading in to the third, Guelph knew they would needed a strong twenty minutes to seal a game one victory. As the Badgers continuing the press, they were able to make the game very interesting with 16:01 to go. Off of a point-shot, Ayden MacDonald was able to deflect the puck past Cregan giving the Badgers plenty of life with no shortage of time left on the clock. However, having vastly improved on their ability to hold the lead throughout the 2019-20 season, the Gryphons went to work and managed to drain the remainder of the third en route to a 3-2 win.
"We got off to very good start tonight scoring on our chances in the first period to give us great momentum," said Gryphon's head coach Shawn Camp. "Then we protected the lead in the third period, which is something that we probably weren't as good at early in the year, so it is great to see the growth within our team and the selflessness within our group."
Backstopping the Gryphons to the game one victory, Cregan turned aside 26 of Brock's 28 shots, while Culina made 29 saves on Guelph's 32 shots. On the power-play, the Gryphons finished the game 0 for 2, with Brock also going 0 for 2.
The Gryphons will now try to punch their ticket to the West final Friday night when they head to St. Catharine's. Game two between the Gryphs and Badgers is scheduled to get underway at 7:15 from the Seymour-Hannah Centre.
