Mar 25, 2018 | Scott Biser | 3272 views
Gryphons Crowned Atom AA Tri County CHAMPIONS!
On Sunday evening, a packed West End Rec Center was rocking as the Atom AA Gryphons hosted the Burlington Eagles in Game 5 of the Tri County Finals. In a hard fought battle, the Gryphons emerged victorious with a 2-1 victory and are the 2018 Tri County Champions.
As were the previous four games, Game 5 was an intense tight checking match with both teams playing at the top of their games. It was a series that could have gone either way as both teams were fast, aggressive, well coached, and with great goaltending.
After a tense scoreless first period, the Gryphons got on the scoreboard 18 seconds into the second period. Ryder Burns gained control of the puck in the Burlington corner and worked it back to defenseman Nathan Schlitt. Schlitt blasted a shot from the point was was deflected by Zach McKnight. The shot was stopped but Logan Biser off to the side of the net banged in the rebound and it just trickled over the line to give Guelph a 1-0 lead. With 6:56 left in the second, the Gryphons struck again. Defenseman Noah Milne hit Olan Norton with a breakout pass in the neutral zone and Norton hit the Burlington blueline with speed and lazered a shot from the sideboards that went bar down on the short side to increase the Gryphon lead to 2-0. Burlington answered back 51 seconds later as Simon Garratt walked into the Guelph zone and ripped a wrist shot under the bar to cut the Gryphon lead in half. The score at the second intermission was 2-1 in favour of Guelph.
The third period had fans from both teams on the edge of their seats as Burlington poured on the pressure and Guelph fought desperately to turn back their attacks. Finally with the goalie pulled, the Eagles gave one last stab at tying the game but the Gryphons did a tremendous job of keeping the puck out of their zone and finally the buzzer sounded and bedlam ensued as the champion Gryphons stormed on to the ice.
Winning goaltender Ale "Ale Cat" Gruosso (son of Tony) was tremendous in the Gryphon net to pick up the series deciding victory.
Your 2018 Atom AA Tri County Champions are:
29. Parker Shany
31. Alessandro Gruosso
3. Tristian Sentance
5. Matthew Stam
9. Noah Milne
10. Ty Thompson
11. Max Grimwood
13. Koen Smith
16. Logan Biser
18. Nathan Schlitt
19. Noah Savery
24. Zac Conroy
47. Oscar Johnson
55. Adam Smith
58. Ryder Burns
72. Olan Norton
87. Tanner Bothwell
96. Zach McKnight
98. Landon Mitchell
Congratulations go out to Head Coach Scott Biser and his staff of Kaine Geldart, Bobby McKnight, Dan Conroy, Matt Shany, and Keith Savery for a tremendous job of guiding these players. For Biser and others on the staff it was their second year with this squad and they have done an admirable job of turning this group of players into a hard working, team-first group that never gave up and always put the team ahead of themselves. It was a team that was a treat to watch on a nightly basis for the parents and the Tri County Championship was the icing on the cake to a fantastic season that also saw the squad make the finals in all four of their tournaments, including a Championship at the Buffalo North American Cup in December.
Way to go Gryphs!