Mar 23, 2016 | Bruce Schlitt | 1103 views
Novice AA Victorious in Game 3 of Tri County Final
The Novice AA Gryphons scored a goal in each period on their way to a 3-1 victory over the Burlington Eagles in Game 3 of the AA Tri County Final on Wednesday evening. The game was a very close, tight checking affair between two very evenly matched teams.
The Gryphies opened the scoring with 2:24 left in the first period. While shorthanded, defenseman Zac Conroy stepped up to break up a Burlington rush and cleared the puck up ice. Speedy Landon Mitchell chased down the loose puck and walked in alone and zipped the puck by the Burlington tender. The game stood 1-0 after one period of play.
With 1:11 left in the second, Mitchell bulged the twine again. Vincent Piccone moved the puck to Mitchell in the neutral zone and Mitchell out raced his checker and slipped the disk just out of reach of the Eagles netminder. After two periods of play, the score stood 2-0 in favour of Guelph.
However, the Eagles refused to quit. With 8:22 left in the game, Titus Muhn moved the puck up to Cam Lang who broke in alone on a breakaway. In a repeat of Game 1, Lang made no mistake and cut the Guelph lead in half. After making it 2-1, Burlington poured on the pressure. Then, with 5:03 left, Nathan Briggs fed Koen Smith on a break and Smith blistered a wrist shot bar down from the hash marks to give Guelph the breathing room that they needed.
Kurtis Abbey was strong between the pipes and picked up the win for the Gryphons.
Guelph returns to action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to Burlington for Game 4 of the series.