Tough loss in a hard to read game.
This game started off right, with Cam potting a goal early during a scramble around the Rangers net. 1-0 Gryphs.
Parker then got to shine with a few flash glove saves, but a Ranger player knocked the net off, which the Refs missed, and then he popped the puck in. A couple minutes and an odd bounce onto a Ranger stick later saw them get a go-ahead despite Parker’s great work. The Gryphs went into period two down 2-1.
Another odd bounce around the net near the start of the third put the Rangers up 3-1. Parker kept fighting off Rangers chances, including a tight wraparound, and had some active stickwork to push pucks out before they became a problem for him, but the Rangers got another, exploiting some disarray from Guelph. About 6 minutes into the period, after the Gryphons fought off a short 5v3, and while fending off the 5v4, Seba pounced on a pass between defenders and started a break on net. With a little fake to sit the Rangers keeper down he roofed it for the shortie, his first goal for the Gryphons. 4-2 Oakville at the end of two.
The third continued as the first two did, with Guelph actually controlling a lot of the play, and a lot of good individual efforts. Will was grinding on the boards, pushing towards the net, getting shots off, running the Rangers around trying to catch him... a late double confirmation from players behind the net that Will also scored a goal in the third - that the Refs disregarded - in their defense, it was a rocket of a shot by Will, that appeared like it may have gone post-bar-post and out under the goalie. But two players behind the net, say that the puck did go post-backofnetbar-post, then out. Olin was also causing havoc for the Rangers D, shoving them around in corners and getting in the way of passes. Evan was reaching hard inside the Oakville blue line to keep pucks in, and firing tape-to-tape passes off the boards and through the neutral zone. But the Gryphs, down three players tonight, just couldn’t pull together quite enough to get shots past the Rangers keeper. The game ended, with a bit of heat, 4-2.
-PL