Dec 29, 2015 | Bruce Schlitt | 480 views
Novice AA Drop Heartbreaker in Silver Stick Semi Finals
The Guelph Novice AA Gryphons battled hard but came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision to Centre Wellington Fusion in the Brampton Silver Stick semi finals on Tuesday December 29.
The Gryphons got off on the right foot Monday December 28 when they opened the tournament with a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Halton Hills Thunder.
Matthew Stam got the Gryphons started just 3:48 into the first period when he blazed a wrist shot from the top of the circles into the top corner of the net. Halton came back three minutes later to tie the score. The score stood 1-1 after one period of play.
Halton Hills scored 8:10 into the second period to take a brief lead but 34 seconds later, Caysen Craig tapped in the puck into the open net to tie the score at 2. Trenton Harris drew the assist. The score remained tied after two periods.
With 10:40 left, Halton Hills again took the lead. However, with 4:02 left, Noah Milne fed Koen Smith on a break and Smith ripped the puck to the back of the net to tie the score at 3. The game looked to remain a draw as both teams battled hard but with just 47 seconds left, Koen Smith roofed a loose rebound off of a Nathan Briggs shot to give Guelph the victory.
Later in the afternoon, Guelph dropped a 4-0 decision to the Orangeville Flyers as they were out hustled and out muscled all over the ice. Orangeville's tight checking afforded the Gryphs very few scoring chances throughout the game. Alessandro Gruosso made several outstanding saves to keep the game close.
That set up a must win game Tuesday morning in order to advance to the tournament semi finals. The Gryphons were up to the challenge as they controlled the play against the Caledon Hawks en route to a 2-0 victory. 1:16 into the second period, the Gryphons went on the powerplay and Nathan Schlitt directed a high back hander at the Caledon net that appeared to fool the Caledon goalie as he fell and knocked the puck into his own net attempting to make the save. That proved to be the game winner. 8:14 into the second, Vincent Piccone found the back of the net on a drive from the blue line. Koen Smith and Nathan Briggs assisted on the play.
Alessandro Grousso picked up the shutout. While not busy, Gruosso did make a couple point blank saves that prevented Caledon from getting back in the game.
The win set up a semi final match up with the Centre Wellington Fusion. Guelph played their hearts out but fell to the powerful Fusion 2-1.
Guelph jumped out to the lead 4:22 into the game as Landon Mitchell swooped in to pick up a loose rebound and threw it top shelf to give the Gryphons a 1-0 lead. Nathan Schlitt and Matthew Stam picked up the assists.
Centre Wellington tied the score halfway thru the second period and 1:49 into the third period, pounced on a rebound to slam home the eventual game winner. The Gryphons mounted several attacks but were unable to get the tieing goal across the line.
The Gryphons are now off until the New Year as they return to regular season action January 3 against the very same Centre Wellington squad.