GUELPH, Ont. – The 2025-26 season officially came to an end on Thursday night (Feb. 26) for the Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team. Returning home to the Gryphon Centre Arena trailing 1-game-0 in the best-of-three OUA quarterfinal series versus the Windsor Lancers, the Gryphons battled back throughout the night on Thursday, and were rewarded with a game-tying goal with just :39 seconds remaining in the 3rd period, as Jack Wismer's late goal tied the game at 2-2 and sent Game 2 of the series into overtime. However, just 1:15 into the first overtime period, the visiting Lancers would score the game-winner as Logan Linklater slid one past Gryphons goalie Olivier Ciarlo and sent the Windsor Lancers through to the semifinals of the Queen's Cup playoffs with a 3-2 overtime victory.
 
The opening three minutes of the first period started out with a bang with both teams trading power play goals :48 seconds apart. After the Lancers scored two minutes into the game on the man advantage, the Gryphons returned the favour :48 seconds later as Anthony Tabak got to the loose puck inside the crease and scored to tie the game at 1-1. The next goal of the game would not come until 14:46 mark of the 2nd period, when Lancers forward Logan Linklater scored from behind the net after getting a fortunate bounce off the end boards before banking the puck off the back of Olivier Ciarlo and in to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
 
The Gryphons would generate plenty of opportunities from that point forward in their search to find the tying goal to keep their season alive. Guelph closed out the 2nd period and opened the 3rd period with a 5-on-3 but were unable to find the back of the net. The Gryphons best chance to tie up the game came at the 3:58 mark of the 3rd period when Nolan Dann earned a penalty shot, but was unable to beat Lancers goalie Max Donoso as the scored remained at 2-1. Guelph continued to press throughout the period and were finally rewarded with :39 seconds left in regulation, when Dylan Hudon set up Jack Wismer, with Wismer's sharp-angled shot finding a way to sneak past Max Donoso's shortside to draw the Gryphons level at 2-2 to send the game into overtime. The Gryphons hard work would be undone just over a minute into the extra frame when Linklater split a pair of Gryphon defenders before sliding the puck through the five-hole and into the back of the net to send the Lancers onto the next round with a 3-2 overtime win and a 2-0 series win.
 
The Lancers will await the winner of the other OUA West quarterfinal between the TMU Bold and the Brock Badgers, with TMU leading that series 1-0. For the Gryphons, their outstanding 2025-26 season officially comes to a close, with the team returning to the postseason for the first time since the 2019-20 season, and defeating Laurier in their opening round playoff series before falling to the OUA West's top seed in the Windsor Lancers.