GUELPH, Ont. - For the second straight season the Guelph Gryphons are off to the Queen's Cup. Successfully defending their OUA West title from a year ago, the Gryphons once again took down the Western Mustangs in three games to book their return trip to the OUA final.
Fighting through injuries as well as a Game 3 deficit, the Gryphons had many different players step up in the time of need to not only secure Guelph's spot in the 109th Queen's Cup, but also their spot at the 2020 University Cup men's hockey championship with a 4-3 win over the Mustangs Sunday night at the Gryphon Centre.
With Ryan Valentini, Luke Kutkevicius and Matthew Timms all out due to injury, the Gryphons received big contributions from unexpected sources.
As the game got underway it did not take very long for the Gryphons to get their hometown fans fired up. Only 1:44 in to the contest, Mustang's goalie Luke Peresinni gave the puck away behind his net and Ryan Obonsawin brought it out front and sent the puck in to the open cage. Leading 1-0, Guelph continued to pour the pressure on the visitors. Out-shooting Western 17-5 in the opening period, the Gryphons held majority of the play but their lead remained just one after twenty minutes.
With Western having already upset the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the West division, adversity was no stranger to them, and they responded in the second. It took the visitors just over five minutes in to the middle frame to tie the game as Sean Montgmery was able to rip a shot up and over Andrew Masters, who was making his first start for the Gryphons since January 30. Knotted up 1-1, the Mustangs continued to charge. With a little over three minutes to play in the second, Rylan Bechtel sent a long point-shot towards the goal, which bounced in off the stick of Gryphon's forward Matt Kenney as the Mustangs took a 2-1 lead into the break.
Needing to come up with a response in a big way to save their Queen's Cup hopes, the Gryphons got to work in the final period. Looking to find the equalizer, Todd Winder worked the puck down low into the Western zone. Evading a pair of Mustangs, Winder found rookie defenceman Cole Cameron out front, and he buried a shot from the slot to even the score. Then only three minutes later, the Gryphons retook the lead. Finding a rebound out front, Giordano Finoro picked up the puck on top of the crease and waited out Peresinni before flipping the puck over his shoulder. With the near capacity crowd of 1,106 at the Gryphon Centre absolutely rocking, Guelph soon after found their first two goal lead of the game. Wanting to make up for the bad bounce off his stick earlier, Kenney received the puck in the slot and wired it past Peresinni to put the Gryphons up 4-2 with 6:16 to play in the third. However, despite all of the momentum in their favour, the Gryphs were not able to put the Mustangs away without a fight. With their net empty Western pulled within one in the final minutes thanks to a goal from Anthony Stefano that just trickled through Masters' legs. In the end though, the Gryphons were able to hang on for the gutsy 4-3 West clinching victory.
"We said from the first day of training camp that in order for us to have success this year, it is going to take everyone in our hockey family to contribute," said Gryphon's head coach Shawn Camp. "We rely on everybody in order to have success and that is exactly what has taken place. We knew there would be adversity coming in to the playoffs and it was all about how we respond to it, and all of the guys have responded the right away and have got the job done for us."
Getting the nod from his head coach to start the biggest game of the season, Masters came up with 17 saves on 20 shots in the win. In Western's goal, Peresinni stopped 32 of the Gryphon's 36 shots. On special teams, neither team was able to take advantage of their power-plays, with both teams going 0 for 3.
The Gryphons will now get set to host the 109th Queen's Cup. Taking place on Saturday, March 7 at the Gryphon Centre, Guelph will welcome the Ottawa Gee-Gees to town with the OUA championship on the line. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 with tickets available online. The Gryphons have won six OUA titles in program history, with the latest coming during the 2014-15 season.
