GUELPH, Ont. – It was another U SPORTS Top 10 matchup for the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team as they took the ice at the Gryphon Centre on Wednesday night (Feb. 1) looking for their 15^th win of the season against the Toronto Varsity Blues. The Gryphons came into Wednesday's game coming off back-to-back wins against the York Lions (1-0) and No. 7-ranked Nipissing Lakers (6-3) last week which vaulted them into 8^th in the national rankings. With just a handful of games left in the regular season the U of G women were looking to continue their strong play and take down the No. 2-ranked U of T Varsity Blues. In what proved to be a game dominated by special teams, two owerplay goals would help Toronto take the win 3-2 in overtime. 
 
After a back-and-forth to open the period momentum quickly shifted in the Gryphons favour after standout goaltender Martina Fedel would come up with a pair of saves on an early breakaway opportunity for the Varsity Blues. For much of the remaining time in the period the Gryphons commanded play with their strong forecheck and relentless defensive effort. They would be rewarded just past the midway point in the period as Avery peer would find Hannah Tait who, after streaking past a pair of Toronto defenders, would find her own rebound and jam it past the pads of Erica Fryer for her 5^th of the season. Just over three minutes later Tori Verbeek would fire a shot that, after hitting the Varsity Blues goalie's pad, would find the stick of Maeve Sutherland-Case who would fire the puck five-hole for her 4^th goal of the 2022-23 campaign.
 
The second period saw the Varsity Blues come out onto the ice fighting hard to get on the scoreboard. While on the powerplay, Toronto would pull within one as a cross-ice pass would leave Martina Fedel with no chance to make the save. The Gryphons would spend much of the remainder of the period on the advantage, with the Varsity Blues taking five penalties, including a five-minute major late in the frame. Despite some excellent scoring chances, the Gryphons would head into the locker room leading by one.
 
Coming back out onto the ice with over three minutes remaining on the Toronto major, the Gryphons were looking to extend their lead. They would be unable to do so as a penalty of their own would result in 4-on-4 action. Less than a minute later the Varsity Blues would tie the game. Another Gryphon penalty midway through the period would send momentum the way of the visiting team but the OUA's 4^th best penalty kill would take it right back with an excellent kill. After some back-and-forth both teams would launch into desperation mode as time was winding down. With 9 seconds left in regulation a Gryphon penalty would give the Varsity Blues a powerplay to start overtime. 36 seconds into the extra period Taylor Trussler would score her 3^rd of the game to give Toronto the 3-2 victory.
 
The Gryphons (14-4-5) will look bounce back as they return to the ice at the Gryphon Centre on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 4) for a matinee with the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Puck drop is set for 2:30pm with tickets available at gryphons.ca/tickets. Fans unable to attend can watch the Gryphon women live, online at www.oua.tv.