The U15A Guelph Gryphons are off to the Tri-County Championships tomorrow!
Congrats to the AA Gryphons who gave the A Gryphons inspiration through a hardworking double overtime semifinal win just before this game!
In a game blessedly low on penalties Guelph got the first powerplay early in the first period, which saw Gareth charge into the Milton end and get a beauty shot towards the top right corner, which the keeper was just able to touch over the net with his glove. The puck quickly came back to Guelph’s end, where Parker made a fast-slide-across-the-crease save, one of many in the game. 0-0 after 1.
Ty won the faceoff to start the 2nd and drove hard to the net, pushing past a couple defenders, didn’t get his first shot off cleanly but fought behind the net to gain the puck, tried centring it to the front but it went off a Winterhawk defender and past the keeper. 1-0 Guelph! A few minutes later, Will stepped on the ice, stole the puck of a WinterHawk, and quick-fired a puck that rocket all around the inside of the net for another goal of the year candidate. 2-0 Guelph. A schmozzle to the right of Parker a few minutes later saw Benny hooked and knocked down, and Parker covering up a puck that was pried out for the 2-1 tally. Later in the period, Jason passed the puck to Seba out of Guelph’s zone; Seba took it outside, then in, pushing with a Winterhawk defender, got a half-broken-up pass over to Cam, who fought with a defender to gain possession of it, passed it back to Seba who fired it hard enough to bounce over a Winterhawk skate and in. 3-1 Guelph!
Early in the third, Jesse drove hard out of our zone, fighting a WinterHawk player all the way down to Milton’s net, popped it off the keeper’s pad, for Olin to fire the rebound home - 4-1! Minutes later, on a hard battling shift, Cam stepped out from behind the net with a pass to Seba, who tapped it back to Jason who fired home the 5-1 goal. Milton did pick up a second goal, assisted by Dad Dave, who had JUST jinxed Guelph by openly praising the Gryphons for their play rather than just cheering them on, much against the warnings of those around him! Max finished off the scoring in the evening with a blast from the outside of the faceoff circle to the Milton keeper’s right that found the back of the net FAST! 6-2 Guelph. As much as the score tells one story of this game, the other story was that Parker did face A LOT of shots (40). Milton caused the Gryphons some fits in their own end. Parker, though, was outstanding positionally on the first shots, deflecting them to the corners, and in responding to cross net passes, being very mobile in sliding and confident in reaching with his fast glove.Overall though, Guelph controlled more of the play of the game and 6-2 was the final score Great work by Parker and the gang to take the Gryphons to the Tri-County Finals on Saturday evening, back in Burlington.
-PL