The Gryphon’s Atom AE’s headed to Barrie on Sunday
afternoon for Game 4 of their OMHA Championship series. Trailing the series 5 points to 1, the
Gryphons were determined to send the series back to Guelph for Game 5 next
weekend.
The Gryphons came ready to play and put forth one
of their best performances of the season.
Guelph battled for the puck all over the ice and pounded the Barrie
goalie with shots. At the other end of
ice, goaltender Max Heroux was flawless.
After three periods of play, the score remained 0-0. Guelph headed into the overtime period knowing
a tie would not be good enough as a single point for Barrie would give them the
OMHA Championship, Guelph continued to carry the play in the extra frame,
including pulling the goalie for an extra attacker but despite their best
efforts, Guelph was unable to get the puck over the goal line. As the overtime period ended, the game ended
0-0 and Barrie were crowned Champions for the second consecutive season.
In Game 3 on Friday night, Guelph was over matched
by the quick skating Colts, who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Peyton Markwood closed the gap early in the
third on a power play marker (Milan Wilson and Kai Stone assisting) but were
unable to tie the game up and fell 2-1.
Fraser Litchfield was simply outstanding in a losing cause, turning
aside shot after shot to give his Gryphon teammates a chance to win the game.
The OMHA silver medals capped another fantastic
season for the young Gryphons squad, which included a championship at the
Bradford Blue and Gold Tournament in October and a Tri County Regular Season
Championship with a record of 22-4-2.
For Gryphon Caleb Davison, this season marked the
third consecutive season with a trip to the OMHA finals, placing him in elite
company in the history of the Guelph Minor Hockey Association. For Max Heroux, Jackson Byard, Peter Schlitt,
Chace Roffel, Peyton Markwood, Connor Laskowski, Milan Wilson, and Adrian
Tersigni it was their second consecutive trip to the OMHA Finals. And for “rookies”
Fraser Litchfield, Nate Taylor, Cian
Duffy, Oliver Fletcher, Kai Stone, Nolan Lodder, Kenny Beynon, and Peyton Smith
they made their first OMHA Silver medal a season to remember. The team should be very proud of all they
have accomplished.
Congratulations go to the coaching staff of
Dominic Tersigni, Matthew Wilson, James Fletcher, and Trevor Byard who worked
tirelessly to teach these kids how to be better hockey players and represent
the GMHA with pride.
Great season Gryphs!