Feb 19, 2017 | Bruce Schlitt | 629 views
Novice Selects Score Road Victory
The Guelph Jr Gryphons Novice Selects traveled to Fergus on Sunday evening and came home with a convincing 7-1 victory over the Center Wellington Fusion. The victory was a team effort as six different players pitched in with the scoring.
The Gryphons struck early, just 1:37 into the contest when Chace Roffel blazed a wrist shot past the Fusion goalie only have it clank off the post, directly onto the stick of Nathan Bowman. Bowman slid the disk into the open net for a 1-0 lead. Just 1:24 later, Brayden Tomei popped the puck loose at center ice and raced in all alone and slid the puck home for a 2-0 lead. The score stood 2-0 after one period of play.
37 seconds into the second period, Vid Peteranac cleared the zone and as the puck skidded down the ice for icing, Tanner Johnson turned on the jets and raced down the ice to tip the puck towards the net before crashing into the end boards. The puck eluded the Fusion netminder and the Gryphies had a 3-0 lead. Liam Bendo also picked up an assist on the play. 32 seconds later, the Fusion got on the board on a solo rush by Tanner Morley. However, the Gryphons answered right back 20 seconds later when Nathan Bowman fed Chace Roffel all alone in front and Roffel made no mistake as he outwaited the Fusion goaltender and snapped the puck home. George Dutrizac also assisted on the play with hard checking in the corner. The scoring frenzy continued just 1:08 later when defenseman Brody Vanden Beukel lazered a shot from the blueline that ripped the twine for his first tally of the season. Milan Wilson and George Dutrizac drew assists on the play. Nathan Bowman then struck again with linemates Dutrizac and Roffel with 5:13 left in the period and the score stood 6-1 in favour of the Gryphons after two periods of play.
Guelph defenseman Peter Schlitt scored the only goal of the third period when he kept the puck in at the blueline and walked around the Fusion defensman and ripped a wrister into the top corner of the net. Milan Wilson assisted on the play. The final score was 7-1.
Guelph defensemen Vid Peteranac, Brody Vanden Beukel, Peter Schlitt, and Jackson Byard were strong on the blueline as the Gryphons played with a short bench. Carter Curran and Max Heroux, while not busy, were solid and dependable when called upon in the Guelph net.
On Saturday, the Gryphons travelled to Burlington to tangle with the Bulldogs and came out on the losing end of a 5-2 score. Nathan Bowman scored both goals in a losing cause. The Gryphons built an early 2-0 lead but were unable to stem the tide of the Bulldogs attack and were left frustrated by the Bulldogs passing and strong positional play.
Last weekend the Grphons hosted the Chedoke Express and held on for a 4-3 victory over the strong squad from Hamilton. Peter Schlitt got the Gryphons on the board with 1:37 left in the opening period as he ripped a wrist shot past the Express goalie. Tanner Johnson and Connor Laskowski assisted on the play. 16 seconds into the second, Declan O'Hearn increased the lead to 2-0 as he converted on a play from Nathan Bowman and George Dutrizac. However, Chedoke anserwed back just 40 seconds later to cut the lead in half. Guelph kept up the pressure and with 6:25 left, Brayden Tomei found the back of the net, with assists going to Nicholas Tyas and Milan Wilson. Two minutes later, Guelph made it 4-1 as sniper Nathan Bowman bulged the twine. Jo Jo Piccone and Declan O'Hearn drew the assists. From then on, the tide turned and Chedoke poured on the pressure and controlled the play. The Express closed the gap to 4-3 and had the goalie pulled looking for the equalizer but as defensman George Dutrizac waved his arms to rally the crowd for support, the Gryphons held on for a 4-3 victory.
Guelph returns to action February 27th when they host the Cambridge Hawks.