Jan 19, 2019 | Bruce Schlitt | 462 views
Minor Peewee AA Run OMHA Record to 3-0
Coming off a tight 4-3 victory over Oakville Blue on Monday night, the Gryphon Minor Peewee AA hosted Brampton on Thursday night and emerged with a hard fought 4-1 victory to improve their OMHA record to 3-0.
The Gryphons opened the scoring 3:05 into the contest as Matthew Stam stripped the Brampton defense of the puck at the Guelph blueline and turned on the jets to break in all alone on the 45's netminder. Stam, having shaken off early season breakaway jitters, calmly deked the Brampton goalie and slid the puck into the open cage for a 1-0 Guelph lead after one period of play.
Brampton evened the game at one apiece early in the second before Guelph scored the eventual game winner with 9:43 remaining in the middle frame. Carden Hickman-Rogers battled for possession of the puck in the neutral zone before eventually bursting loose for a breakaway of his own. Hickman-Rogers slickly roofed his backhander under the bar for a 2-1 Guelph lead after two periods of play.
Guelph picked up some much needed insurance with 8:45 remaining. Nathan Schlitt ripped a drive from the blueline that was deflected by Koen Smith and the rebound was pounced upon by Tyler Chadwick who backhanded it home for a 3-1 lead. With 33 seconds remaining and the Brampton goalie pulled, Tanner Bothwell slid the puck down the ice from his own zone into the open cage to make the final 4-1.
Parker Shany picked up his second win of the playoffs in the net.
Guelph travels to Oakville Sunday morning to tangle with Oakville Red in a battle for first place in the OMHA round robin standings.