Feb 28, 2019 | Bruce Schlitt | 461 views
Gryphons Take Game 1 of Semi's Over Huskies
The Gryphon Atom AE's opened their OMHA semi final series on Thursday night when they traveled to New Hamburg to face off against the Huskies. In a tough battle, the Gryphons brought home a 5-2 victory to take a 1-0 series lead.
If Game 1 is a preview of the series to come, it promises to be a drawn out affair between two tight checking teams. The first period opened with the Gryphons showing some series opening jitters as they had difficulty handling the puck. The score after one period of play was 0-0.
Guelph drew first blood 3:09 into the second. Peyton Markwood hit Kai Stone with a pass in the neutral zone and Stone turned on the jets and beat the New Hamburg defenseman wide before circling behind the net and stuffing the puck in the short side. With 3:44 left in the second, just as a Gryphon powerplay expired, Connor Laskowski slugged it out deep in the New Hamburg zone and drove a shot on net. Caleb Davision out muscled two defenders in front and banged home the rebound to give Guelph a 2-0 lead after two periods of play.
33 seconds into the third period, Guelph struck again. On the powerplay, Oliver Fletcher threaded a perfect D to D pass to Nate Taylor who drove a shot on net. The shot was stopped but Peyton Markwood tucked in the rebound to open up a 3-0 lead. However, New Hamburg refused to give up and banged home two goals in the next six minutes to make the score 3-2 and take the momentum from the Gryphons. However with 4:43 remaining, Nate Taylor directed another shot on net and Caleb Davison drove home another rebound to make the score 4-2. Peyton Smith completed the scoring into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining in the contest to make the final 5-2.
Game 2 of the series takes place Friday March 1. Game time is 6:30 at the WERC.