Dec 13, 2016 | Bruce Schlitt | 457 views
Novice Selects Victorious in Georgetown
The Guelph Gryphon Novice Selects traveled to Georgetown on Tuesday night for the second half of a home and home battle with the Halton Hills Thunder. Looking to avenge their 4-3 defeat back on December 3, the Gryphons stormed out with their best effort of the season so far and came home with a 4-2 victory. The Gryphs positioning and passing resulted in many scoring opportunities during the contest.
The Gryphs got on the scoreboard first. With 1:34 left in the first period, Tanner Johnson sprinted onto the ice on a line change and quickly scooped up a loose puck in the Halton Hills zone and found mesh to give the Guelph squad a 1-0 lead. Chace Roffel and Nicholas Tyas drew assists on the play. The score stayed 1-0 after one period of play.
The Gryphons poured on the pressure to open the second period. After several chances, Milan Wilson buried a rebound to give Guelph a 2-0 lead. Hard work by George Dutrizac and Brayden Tomei drew assists on the Wilson tally. Five minutes later, the Wilson line struck again. This time it was Tomei who slid home the rebound off multiple shots by Dutrizac and Wilson. With a 3-0 lead, the Gryphons looked to increase their lead on a powerplay to close out the second period but Halton Hills had other plans. While killing the penalty, the Thunder's Wyatt Crawford walked in alone and blazed a wrist shot past the Gryphon netminder to get Halton Hills on the board. The score stood 3-1 in favor of Guelph after two periods of play.
Guelph kept up the pressure in the third period with several posts and glorious chances. With 2:29 left in the contest, Declan O' Hearn drove hard to the net and blasted a shot on goal. The Thunder goalie turned aside the shot but the rebound was pounced upon by Peter Schlitt who didn't hesitate in slamming it in the back of the cage for a 4-1 Guelph lead. Chace Roffel, who was dangerous in the Halton zone all evening, also drew an assist on the play. With 1:08 left in the contest, Halton Hills Nolan Thomas jumped on a loose puck in front of the Guelph net and pounded it home to get the Thunder within two goals. However, that would close out the scoring and the final buzzer sounded with the Gryphons skating off with a 4-2 victory.
Guelph was led by strong defensive efforts from Brody Vanden Beukel, Nathan Bowman, Jackson Byard, Vid Peteranac, and Joseph Piccone.
The Novice Selects return to action Friday December 23 when they host the Brantford Saints.