Mar 17, 2019 | Bruce Schlitt | 618 views
Atom AE's Drop Game 1, Rally To Tie Game 2 To Open OMHA Finals.
The Guelph Gryphons Atom AE's opened their OMHA Final series this past Friday night. In a rematch of last year's final, the Gryphons are battling the Barrie Colts for the OMHA Crown on the The Road To The Red Hats. The Gryphons have their work cut out for them as they try to upend the powerhouse from Barrie who had yet to lose a game in two years of playoffs heading into this year's Final.
In Game 1 on Friday night at the WERC, Barrie opened the scoring five minutes into the contest as they broke loose coming thru the neutral zone and ripped a shot past the Gryphon netminder for an early 1-0 lead. The lead held to the halfway point of the second when what appeared to be a harmless shot from the point was batted into the net from the slot and the Colts held a 2-0 lead after two periods of play. The Gryphons poured on the pressure but were unable to push one past the Barrie netminder and the Colts skated home with a 2-0 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
On Saturday afternoon, the Gryphons travelled to Barrie for Game 2. The game did not start strong for the Gryphons as a penalty on the first shift led to a Barrie powerplay goal in the first minute of play. But the Gryphons roared to life 2:15 into the contest. Nolan Lodder, off to the side of the Barrie net, spotted defenseman Peter Schlitt wide open back at the point. Lodder fed Schlitt a perfect cross ice pass and Schlitt stepped into his shot and zipped it off the inside of the far post to get the Gryphons on the scoreboard for the first time in the series and tie the score. The fans had just settled back into the their seats when 45 seconds later Adrian "The Bulldog" Tersigni sped wide on the Barrie defense, circled behind the net and jammed in the puck to give Guelph their first lead of the series. Guelph led the contest 2-1 after one period of play.
Barrie went to the powerplay with 4 minutes left in the second period and tied the score at 2 apiece. Just a minute later Barrie took the lead on a bad bounce in front of the net and took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
At the 2:49 mark of the third period, Barrie struck for their third powerplay goal of the contest and appeared to take control of the game with a 4-2 lead. But the never say die Gryphons went to work and took it to the surprised Colts. First speedy Kai Stone split the Barrie defense and walked in and took a shot that was stopped but tapped in his own rebound to make it a one goal game. Then with 10 minutes left, Milan Wilson was left open in front and he patiently swatted in a rebound to tie the score at four apiece. The remainder of the game solved nothing and the two teams headed to overtime.
Once again during the overtime period, the Gryphons faced adversity head on having to kill a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:36. But the Gryphons, led by the penalty killing heroics of Connor Laskowski and Milan Wilson, fought off the Colts and got back to even strength. Neither team was able to find the back of the net for the game winner and Game 2 ended in a 4-4 draw.
The Gryphons look to build on their overtime tie this Friday night when they host Game 3 at the WERC. Game time is 7:15.