GUELPH, Ont.- Getting back on the ice for the first time in an OUA setting since their thrilling 109th Queen's Cup triple overtime victory in March of 2020, the Guelph Gryphons began their 2021 exhibition schedule in style by doubling up the Toronto Varsity Blues. Playing host to the Blues Saturday afternoon at the Gryphon Centre, Guelph used six different goal scorers to power them to a 6-3 victory.
"We were so excited to finally be playing again and you could feel the excitement in the team today," said Gryphon's Head Coach Shawn Camp.
Although Toronto was able to get on the board first by scoring late in the opening period, it did not take the Gryphons very long to get back on even terms. Just over two minutes after the Varsity Blues opened the scoring, Connor Bramwell found the back of the net for Guelph sending the two teams into the intermission in a 1-1 tie.
As the second period played out, it certainly was a tale of two halves. In the first ten minutes of the period, the Gryphons made their mark, however, the Varsity Blues responded shortly after the halfway point. Just about four minutes into the middle frame, the Gryphs took their first lead of the contest on a goal from Lucas Chiodo. Then Guelph added to their lead when Nick Isaacson found the back of the net a little more than three minutes later on the power-play. Unfortunately for Guelph, Toronto responded in a very timely fashion. Scoring a pair of goals only two minutes apart, including a power-play goal of their own, the Varsity Blues were able to equalize the score 3-3, which is where things stood heading into the third.
Knowing they just needed to win the third period to win the game, the Gryphons did exactly that. It was at the 6:02 mark of the final frame when the Gryphs regained the lead on a goal from Luke Kutkevicius. Then with just under five minutes to play in the contest, Guelph added some insurance with a goal from Gio Finoro, before Ted McGeen sealed the victory for the Gryphs with a goal in the final minute.
Rounding out the score sheet, Finoro, Chiodo, Jacob Winterton, Isaacson and Kutkevicius all recorded an assist, while Ryan Da Silva had a pair of helpers.
In goal, the Gryphons split time between Brendan Cregan and Colton Incze. Incze wound up recording the win, while not allowing a goal in his 26 minutes of ice time.
"It was a good start to defending our Queen's Cup Championship," Camp said.
The Gryphons will continue their exhibition schedule on Thursday when they play host to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks with puck drop set for 7:30pm from the Gryphon Centre.
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