GUELPH, Ont. - Friday night at the Gryphon Centre, the Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team kicked off the new year with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 shootout victory over the visiting the York Lions. The Gryphons were led by Jacob Winterton who scored a pair of unanswered goals to force overtime before Nolan Forster captured the win in the shootout. With the win the Gryphons improve to 9-10-0 and move into 5th-place in the OUA's West Division while the Lions fall to 3-13-2. 

In their first game in nearly a month, the Gryphons found themselves on their back foot early, giving up a trio of powerplays to the Lions. York would eventually take a 1-0 lead in the final seconds of the first before extending their advantage to two early in the second. With time running down in the second period, Jacob Winterton would get the Gryphs on the board after defenceman Duncan Penman found the third-year winger alone on the Lions doorstep. Winterton pciked up his second of the game with just over 8 minutes remaining in regulation when Anthony Tabak forced a turnover to set up the game-tying score. Winterton now has a team-high 11 goals on the season, putting him in a tie for 8th in the OUA in scoring. 

Goaltender Tanner Wickware was impressive in net for the Gryphons once again, making 31 saves for his 8th win of the season. The third-year Milton native also stopped back-to-back shooters in the shootout to help the Gryphons capture the extra point in the conference standings.

The Gryphons (9-10-0) will return to the ice tomorrow when they head to St. Catharines for a matchup against the U SPORTS No. 10-ranked Brock Badgers. Puck drop is set for 2pm at Canada Games Park.