The Gryphon Minor Peewee AA’s travelled to Oakville on
Sunday afternoon in a battle for 1st place with Oakville Red in OMHA
Qualifying Round Robin action. In a
highly entertaining contest, the Gryphons dropped a tough 5-3 decision to
suffer their first loss of the playoffs.
The first period was all Oakville as they had the jump
on Guelph out of the gate. Two goals in
the last five minutes of the first period gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead heading
into the first intermission.
The second period was all Guelph as the Gryphs buzzed
the Oakville net with a flurry of scoring chances. Olan Norton got Guelph on the board just
1:26 into the period as he stood open off to the side of the net and jumped on
a loose rebound off a Nathan Boyle wrap-around. Oscar Johnson also picked up an assist on the
play. The Gryphons tied the game six
minutes later when Tanner Bothwell jammed in a rebound in front while on the
powerplay. Andrew McMillan picked up the
assist. The second period ended in a 2-2
tie with Guelph carrying the momentum.
Guelph generated several chances early in the third
they were unable to covert on. Then
Oakville broke the tie with a tally with 8:59 remaining in the contest. The Rangers added an insurance marker with
1:32 left to make the score 4-2.
However Guelph refused to quit and just 13 seconds later with the goalie
pulled, Tyler Chadwick roofed a backhander off a setup from Tanner Bothwell and
Matthew Stam to make it a one goal game once again. However, Oakville iced the game with an empty
net goal with 1:01 remaining to make the final 5-3.
With a 3-1 record, the Gryphons find themselves tied
for 1st place in their division with Oakville Red. The Gryphons return to action Saturday when
they return to Oakville once again to take on Oakville Blue.