U15 A Tri-County Champions!!! March 26 Tri-County Championship Owen Sound Jr Attack @ Guelph Gryphons
The U15A Guelph Gryphons are the TriCounty Champions with a 5-4 Double Overtime Win!!!
A tough start for Guelph in this game as Owen Sound (OS) had the Gryphons under Attack for the early part of the first period, but about halfway through the first, the terriers, Cam and Seba, battled the puck up the boards from the centre line, fighting it through OS players into their zone. Seba flew in for a hit, separating the OS defender from the puck, tipped it to Cam, who stepped into the side of the Attack net, passed it over to Jason, who made no mistake for the 1-0 Guelph lead. Good action after that, including a shot from Nolan B from the point, that actually knocked the Attack goalie over as he made the save to send the puck over the net. Coming back the other way, the Attack managed a hard shot around traffic, that Sergio went full splits on, flashing the leather to grab the puck out near his toes. A game note here too, Evan was out, ill, and thanks to Malin for the call-up. 1-0 Guelph at the end of 1.
The second started with some Guelph confidence, led by a strong push out of our zone from Sergio on out through to the defence and up the ice. A few minutes in, Nolan S. and Ty were cycling the puck around the net, when Cam stepped on the ice, Nolan S found him in the slot, and Cam smashed home the 2-0 marker. Not long after, OS got a rocket from the point, cutting Guelph's lead to 2-1. But Will and Jesse would answer, as Will dug, dug, dug for a puck out of the OS corner, fired it out to Jesse, who's precise control put the puck through the keeper's five hole; 3-1 Guelph, end of 2.
A good start to the third saw most of the action in the OS end in the early going with Noah doing great pinching work on the right boards to keep pucks in. Seba won a face-off to Cam on the left side boards; Cam fired a straight lick with the crooked stick for the 4-1 lead. All good getting through the rest of third with that lead, right? Well, we all know what 4-1 leads are like... This goal at about 9 minutes in the period (we've seen that time before too) jilted OS into a bit of fury and they stormed back over the next while bombarding a bit of a shocked Gryphons team, nailing Sergio with shots that he stopped using everything he had - pads, blocker, skate, post, jock, glove, positioning, stick, shaft of stick, Nolan B (earning a hug from his keeper)... The Attack was relentless for the rest of the period, getting 1 through a screen from the point, 1 from a couple of miscues that left Sergio alone 1v1, and then a 6v4 shot from the point through traffic and a tip (cover #14!) at 30 seconds left! Period 3 ended 4-4... into overtime.
Besides the glove taps between Gareth and the Attack centre just before the ref dropped the puck to start the OT, there was little to no coherent recollection of one 10 minute overtime period, or a good amount of a second overtime period, just knowing that Guelph fired a million shots which the Attack keeper turned away, and Sergio equally turned away a million shots from OS as his goal partner Parker cheered him on, until, at some point during all the madness, Jesse got the puck up ice to Gareth, who hit centre and dumped it to the left corner of the OS end, Jesse raced in, grabbed it just before the goal line, cut in for the shot, put it off the keeper's pad to Will whose double OT, rebound snipe sealed the Tri-County Championship for the U15 A Guelph Gryphons.
Aside from the joy of watching the Gryphons celebration mayhem, and ours in the stands, maybe the other best part of the night was to see Owen Sound and Guelph line up for hearty and sincere handshakes after a long 2 years of missing that in hockey.
Congrats and thanks to coaches Grant, Doug, John, Steve and Matt, and all the support of parents and family and friends and sponsors who contributed in so many ways to this great achievement and experience for our boys.
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Congratulations to our friends at U15 AA for their inspiring championship win just before this game, and to U13 AA and U12 AE for their league wins. Good luck to all the OMHA qualifying Guelph Gryphons teams!
-PL