Sunday night, the alarm clock went off for the Junior Gryphons who returned to game action for the first time in almost two weeks after the holiday break. The game against the Flyers was the the first of 6 games of the double-round robin group in the OMHA play-ins.
The game started as one might expect after a two-week layoff. Slowly. The first period saw the action going back and forth with decent scoring chances at both ends of the ice. However, neither team could find the back of the net with both goalies making excellent saves.
In the second period the Junior Gryphons started to find their game legs and opened the scoring a little over half way through the frame with a goal by Conner Laskowski. The play started deep in the Guelph zone when Vid Peteranic won a battle along the boards at the hashmarks and got the puck to Peyton Smith. Smith streaked out of the defensive zone and flew into the Flyer end, drew the defenders to him and got the puck to Laskowski who fired a wrist shot over the goalie's blocker. That lead would only last 3 minutes, as the Flyers scored the equalizer on a goal-mouth scramble.
The third-period would start in a 1-1 tie, but it would not stay that way for long. Just over two-minutes into the period Vid Peteranac stopped a clearing shot at the Flyer blue-line and shot the puck back toward their net where Peyton Smith would pick up the puck, dance around a defender, and centre it to Kenny Beynon who would bang it into the back of the net.
About 30 seconds later, Milan Wilson would stop a Flyer clearing play, feed Peter Schlitt at the blue-line who would pass the puck to Owen McNamee who had snuck behind the Flyer defense, and with a quick deke of the goalie while in the crease, was able to tap the puck into the empty net for the 3-1 lead.
Thirty seconds later, the Byard line would get in on the action when Jackson Byard won a battle in the Orangeville corner, getting the puck to Nate Taylor behind the net who shook off a defender to flip the puck to Peyton Markwood in the front of the net. Markwood calmly gathered the puck and roofed a wrist-shot over the Flyer goalie's blocker.
That would be the final tally of the game for the Gryphons. The rest of the period they played smart defensive hockey while killing off several penalties as the match turned chippy. Lucas Jones was solid in the net in his first game action in over a month due to injury as he picked up his first career playoff win. The final score would be 4-1 Guelph.
The Gryphons return to action on Sunday against Flamborough-Dundas for game two of the playoffs. Come out and cheer on the boys at West End at 3:30.