Oct 16, 2021 | Bruce Schlitt | 187 views
U15 AA Open Season WIth Victory Over Orangeville
The U15 AA Gryphons opened their 2021-2022 season with a hard fought 6-3 victory over the Orangeville Flyers on Saturday evening.
The Gryphons opened the scoring 11:20 into the opening frame as Calvin Cahill smacked home a rebound for his first of the year. Sam Savery and Nathan Briggs drew assists on the play. The first period would end with Guelph holding on to a 1-0 lead.
Ryan Denham tied the game 2:33 into the second period. The Gryphons regained the lead 54 seconds later. Centreman Tyler Chadwick won the draw cleanly back to Nathan Bakker who drilled a shot from the point on net. Koen Smith parked himself in front and deflected the puck past the Orangeville netminder to put the Gryphs up 2-1. Orangeville tied the game just 51 seconds later as Ryan Ottaway found the back of the net. Just 32 seconds later, Addison Murphy-Rodgers broke down the ice with Will Ross on a a 2 on 1 and Murphy Rodger's pass across deflected off the Orangeville defender into the back of the net to give Guelph the lead for good. Ross and Andrew McMillan drew assists on the play. Just forty seconds later, Nathan Briggs broke down the ice and faked pass and sniped a wrister under the bar to increase the Guelph lead to 4-2. Defensemen Zac Conroy and Adam Smith picked up the helpers. With 13 seconds left in the frame while on the powerplay, defenseman Nathan Schlitt faked shot and slid the puck to partner Zac Conroy who walked in and snapped a shot past the Flyer's goalie. The score stood 5-2 in favour of the hometown Gryphons after two periods of play.
The two teams traded goals in the third to round out the scoring. 2:30 into the third, Sam Savery bulged the twine to increase the Gryphon lead to 6-2. Calvin Cahill and Zac Conroy drew assists on the play. Orangville closed the gap with 4:35 remaining but Guelph shut things down after that and the final score stood 6-3.
Ale Gruosso and Logan Stevenson split time in the Guelph crease and both were steady to pick up the win.
The Gryphons return to action next Saturday when they host the West Niagara Flying Aces.