Another whole team effort tonight!
A fast start to a Sergio backstopped game by both Brampton and Guelph. Brampton’s a bit of an unknown for the Gryphons, not having played them before. A few minutes in, Jason tipped the puck out of our end up to Seba, who drove hard into the Brampton end through a couple of defenders, who finally decided they needed to just take him out, for Guelph’s first hustle-hard powerplay of a few in this game. Will, scrambling hard for pucks, and banging bodies, stepped across the net received a puck and buried the opening goal, celebrating with the… Gritty? Maybe the Happy Drunken Gryphon? Regardless, it fired the boys up! A few minutes later, Noah kept in a Brampton clearance attempt on the boards, knocked it deeper to Jason who threw it out to Cam at the blue line, he passed it to Seba who dumped it on net, fought behind the net to pick it up, and slid it back to Cam in the low slot, who tapped it over to Jason. Jason buried the 2-0 Guelph lead and eventual game-winner.
2-0 Gryphons going into 2.
Nolan S, cutting off Brampton rushes all night, then turning them up-ice to skate around 4-5 45s each time, this time dances around 5-6 (a couple of them twice), into the Brampton zone, fired through a screen and… it just rang (loudly), bar-down, and unfortunately on the outside of the net. So close, so good. A few minutes later, Ty and Nolan S colab on bringing it across the Brampton blueline. Ty looked like he was about to shoot, dropped it back to Nolan S, and as it looked like he was going to bring it far side of the net, shorted the goalie on the near-side and found a wee hole to squeak between his blocker and the post. A great slight-of-hand play from the pair of Gryphs. 3-0 Guelph going into the 3rd.
Sergio entered the third with a solid shutout, with perfect positioning throughout the game and a few quick pads. Benny and Noah both had great aggressive nights on the right blueline, knocking down pucks and playing high on the boards to keep the Gryphon’s creative opportunities flowing. Late in the game with Guelph on the PK, Evan worked hard to hold the puck and two 45’s players behind Sergio’s net, killing time and Brampton chances to come back. A few minutes later he broke up a 2on1 Brampton PK chance just inside Guelph’s blue line. Back up ice moments later, Will, again, fought off 2 Brampton defenders in the corner, took a knee in doing so, got back up, called his shot and fired one from behind the goal line at the goalie, scoring off his backside and in. A hard-fought 2 goals for Will on the night. 4-0 Guelph. Noah, on the fans side of the ice, fought off three Brampton chances to get up the ice, and putting the puck back deep into Brampton’s end. Brampton did get 1 late in the third to get within… well, 3, with one Brampton fan yelling “Come on 45s, you can get 3 goals here… in 90 seconds… and on the penalty kill!”, as he chuckled at himself. 4-1 Guelph. With about 30 seconds to go, Benny was fighting for the puck in the corner; he got crunched pretty hard but he did get up and walked out on the night! That took the wind out of Guelph’s sails for a few moments, but Sergio was able to fend off the ensuing Brampton attack before Nolan B. drove hard out of the Guelph zone, twisting and turning past their defense to get and keep the puck up the ice to close out the game. 4-1 final for Guelph! Again, a great whole-team effort with everyone talking, passing, playing hard and supporting each other throughout the game.
-PL