WINDSOR, Ont. – The Gryphons women's hockey team opened the 2023-24 OUA regular season in dramatic fashion, outlasting the Windsor Lancers in seven rounds of a shootout on Saturday night in Windsor to escape with a 2-1 season-opening victory. Gryphons standout third-year goaltender, Martina Fedel, made 27 saves during regulation and overtime, before turning away all six Windsor shooters in the shootout to help the Gryphons secure the win. Tori Verbeek and Chihiro Suzuki scored in the third and seventh rounds, respectively, during the shootout to lift the Gryphons to a 1-0 start to the new season.
 
The Gryphons found themselves down a goal with just under five minutes remaining in the 3rd period, but that is when the Gryphons would get a spark from second-year forward Alexie Olivier. The Sudbury, Ontario native created a turnover in the neutral zone, and then fired home a sharp-angled wrist shot, beating Windsor goaltender Cadence Petitclerc to tie things up at 1-1. The Gryphons, who outshot the Lancers 42-28 on the night, had to work hard to get the game to a shootout, with Windsor creating chances late in the overtime period with the Gryphons shorthanded. But the Guelph penalty kill unit did their job, sending the game to a shootout and setting the stage for Gryphon goalie Martina Fedel who denied seven straight Windsor shooters.
 
The Gryphons (1-0-0) will return to the ice next Thursday (October 19) for their home opener, when they will welcome the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (1-1-0) to the Gryphon Centre Arena for a 7:30pm puck drop.
 

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