GUELPH, Ont. – On Thursday night (Feb. 12) at the Gryphon Centre Arena, the Gryphons men's hockey team fell, 6-4, to the visiting Western Mustangs. After the Gryphons jumped out to a 2-0 lead with 1st period goals from
Anthony Tabak and Jack Wismer, the Mustangs would answer with four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead. The Gryphons would get back within one goal, thanks to the OUA's leading scorer in second-year forward,
Nolan Dann, who scored on the power play midway through the 3rd period to make it a 4-3 game. But the Mustangs would add an empty netter with just over a minute remaining to make it 5-3.
Nolan Dann would score again with just :12 seconds remaining for his second of the night, and OUA-leading 39th point of the season (24 games played), but one last Western empty net goal in the final second of play would seal a 6-4 win for the Mustangs. With the loss, the playoff-bound Gryphons fall to 15-9-3 on the season (4th in the
OUA West Division standings), while the already mathematically eliminated from postseason play Western Mustangs improve to 11-13-3 on the season.
The Gryphons now have just one game remaining in their regular season schedule, and will return to home ice on Saturday night (Feb. 14) for a 7:30pm puck drop versus the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (13-8-5 | 5th-place in
OUA West Division standings). Saturday night's regular season finale matchup in Guelph will also serve as a playoff preview, with Guelph (4th-place, 33 points) and Laurier (5th-place, 31 points) set to meet up in the opening round of the playoffs. While it is confirmed that the Gryphons and Golden Hawks will in fact face each other in the opening round of playoffs, what is still to be decided is determining which team will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-three series. Laurier has two games remaining and will head to last-place York on Friday night (Feb. 13) to take on the Lions (5-19-2), before heading to Guelph on Saturday night (Feb. 14) for the regular season finale versus the Gryphons. The men's hockey playoffs will officially get underway with the opening round best-of-three series taking place from Thursday, Feb. 19 to Sunday, Feb. 22. Saturday night's (Feb. 14) regular season finale matchup in Guelph between the Gryphons and Golden Hawks can be seen live online at
www.oua.tv, with tickets available online at
www.gryphons.ca/tickets.
