ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons are heading to the OUA West Final for the second straight season. Avenging their 2017-18 West semi-finals loss that came at the hands of the Brock Badgers, the Gryphons flipped the script on the Badgers Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Arena with a 2-1 overtime victory to complete a two-game sweep of Brock.
With both teams battling beyond regulation time, it was Luke Kutkevicius who played hero for the Gryphons breaking into the Badger's zone, cutting to the slot and then sliding the puck past Brock goalie Mario Culina sending Gryphon players flying over the bench and on to the ice in celebration.
All game long there was no love lost between the two sides as the playoff intensity came through in full spirit. Right from the first drop of the puck, the Gryphons and Badgers both played a very heavy and physical game.
With Brock on the brink of elimination and the Gryphons on the brink of moving on, both teams did their best to establish control in the early stages. However, there was very little separation to be had all throughout the game.
In the opening period, it was the physicality that played the biggest role. Even though neither team was able to get on the score board in the first twenty minutes, there were plenty of big hits thrown and a few penalties as well. In the period, the Gryphons went 0 for 2 with the man-advantage, while the Badgers were unsuccessful on their one opportunity.
As the middle frame played out it was simply more of the same from the first. Both goaltenders, Brendan Cregan for the Gryphons and Culina for the Badgers continued to play very well, while the skaters fought through another physically demanding period. Despite the Gryphons being able to out-shoot Brock 16-7 in the period, again, neither side was able to find the back of the net and the game stayed scoreless through forty minutes.
Then in the third the contest really began to pick up. With both teams sensing the moment, the play seemed to get faster and faster. Like the second period, the Gryphons continued to control the shot clock in the final frame of regulation, and were ultimately rewarded for it late. With only 4:15 to play in the third, Guelph was finally able to break through. On a long point-shot from Ryan Da Silva, Gryphon's forward Bobby Dow parked himself on top of the Badger's crease and was able to deflect the puck past Culina giving Guelph a 1-0 lead. However, despite the momentum, the lead was very short lived. Only 39 seconds after the Gryphons had jumped out in front, the Badgers got the puck in the offensive zone where a perfect pass wound up on the stick of Jared Marino and he tipped it home to tie the game.
After the score held at 1-1 for the rest of regulation, the Gryphons and Badgers prepared for sudden death setting up Kutkevicius' time to shine.
In the end Guelph went on to out-shoot Brock 52-32. The Gryphons finished the game 0 for 3 on the power-play, while the Badgers went 0 for 1.
With the win, the Gryphons now head to the OUA West Final where they will meet either the Ryerson Rams or the Western Mustangs. Ryerson, the number two seen in the OUA West, currently lead the OUA West's eight seeded Mustangs one game to zero. They will play game two of their best of three series on Saturday.
The date for game one of the OUA West Final has yet to be determined. Be sure to check gryphons.ca upon conclusion of the Ryerson and Western series for the dates to be announced.
