GUELPH, Ont. - The Gryphons men's hockey team were a goal away from completing a home-and-home series sweep against the Western Mustangs on Saturday night (March 5) at the Gryphon Centre. In the end, the Gryphons would fall just short, losing 2-1 in a shootout to their rivals from London to fall to 3-9-2 on the season, while Western improves to 7-7-0. Despite the loss, the defending OUA champion Gryphons remain in the hunt for a playoff spot, but will need to finish strong and get a little help along the way, with just three games remaining on their 2021-22 regular season schedule.

Saturday night's game at the Gryphon Centre marked the second time in 24 hours that the Gryphons and Mustangs would meet up, with Guelph cruising to a 7-0 shutout win at Thompson Arena on Friday night. The Mustangs came out desperate for the opening goal and were able to apply some pressure throughout the opening period, but Gryphons goalie Colton Incze made some timely saves to keep the score tied at 0-0.

Heading into the second, the Gryphs would start the period on the penalty kill as they looked to stifle the Western momentum. The Gryphons aggressive penalty kill went to work once again, going 5 for 5 tonight and improving to 84.1% (5th place in the OUA). On the other end, the Gryphons appeared to open the scoring on the power play, but captain Ted Nichol's goal was waved off. Undeterred the Gryphons battled back and regained momentum from the Western Mustangs. Working in the offensive zone, Cameron Searles put found Andrew Dodson from behind the net as Dodson sent it home for his first of the season. The 5th-year Milton, ON native, put the puck bardown and the Gryphons up 1-0, a lead they would hold heading into the final period of play.

Rookie goaltender Colton Incze stood strong throughout the contest, maintaining his shutout for five full periods of play with 58 saves made. The rock-solid goaltender and Oakville, ON native would finally be cracked by the Mustang offence at 6:31 in the 3rd as Western battled back to tie up the game. With overtime looming, the final minutes of play were electric as both teams looked to break out and end the match in regulation. Despite some close chances, the buzzer would sound, sending the Gryphons to their first overtime on home ice this season.

With seven minutes of 3 on 3 hockey, the Gryphs dominated the open ice, leading the Mustangs in shots 5-2. The players attempted shot after shot at cracking the Western netminder with no success, meaning a shootout would be needed to find a winner. Western's Sean Montgomery gave the Mustangs the lead in the shootout in the 2nd round, and by the 3rd round of shooters, Gryphons assistant captain Connor Bramwell needed to score to keep the Gryphons alive. Bramwell appeared to do so, but after deking Western goalie Dylan Myskiw and jamming it home from in tight, the shootout goal was immediately disallowed, with the referee determining the goal came on a rebound after an initial save off the pad.
 
The Gryphons will return to action on Wednesday, March 9 for a 7:30pm puck drop versus the Laurier Golden Hawks.
 

---