The U15A Guelph Gryphons crowned Tri-County Champions after
tenacious 4 - 2 victory over the Centre Wellington Fusion!
The Stage: U15A Tri-County
Championship Game
The Venue: The Fergus Sportsplex
The Date: March 23, 2023
The Match-up:
Centre Wellington Fusion A (1st place with 28-2-2
regular season, 7-0 playoffs)
Vs
Guelph Gryphons A (2nd place with 25-4-3 regular
season, 7-0 playoffs)
The Game:
With electricity in the air, the stands full and the
anticipation of an exciting, physical and fast game to commence, the U15A Guelph
Gryphons took to the ice to face their toughest opponent of the season – again. Having tangled 4 times since an early season
exhibition game in September, the teams were well aware of one another, and
ready for battle.
Wearing their out-of-town black uniforms, the Gryphons
showed confidence early and outshot CW 13-5 in the opening period. However, early game jitters and excitement resulted
in penalties on both sides with CW capitalizing with the first goal of the game
with (officially) 0:01 left on the clock.
Despite best efforts to convince the officials that the goal occurred after
the period expired, there was not enough evidence to overturn the call. 1-0 CW.
Clearly disappointed with the verdict, the Gryphons would
use this as motivation to up the effort in the second period. Despite needing to
fight off a few early period penalties, the Gryphons rebounded in the second half
of the frame with relentless pressure in the offensive zone, persistent physical
play at both ends of the ice and sound goaltending. Midway through the 2nd period, the
Gryphons would notch a pair of goals about 1 minute apart. This gave the momentum to the visiting Gryphons
as they outshot CW 9-6 in the period and continued to control much of the play.
During the second period flood, the Guelph Gryphons revisited
the gameplan and ensured consensus on the strategy for the final 15:00.
Early in the third, the Gryphons would add to the lead on a
tip from a point shot that would squeak past the CW goaltender. Two and a half minutes later, the Gryphons would
go up 4-1 with a goal on the powerplay.
With 10 minutes left in the game, CW would up the intensity,
double shift a half dozen players and did their best to fight back. Though adding one goal to their total, CW was
not able to overcome the resiliency, speed and effort of this Guelph Gryphons team.
As the clock wound down and the reality of the win set in,
the Gryphons held their composure, continued to press and did not allow CW to
get back in the game.
With the final buzzer and the Championship solidified, the Gryphons
were finally able to celebrate the moment with the banner in hand, and medals draped.
Despite the satisfaction and thrill of the victory, it was
well understood that this was yet a step along the path to the next goal –
OMHAs winning the Red Hats!
Congratulations team! You all played a great game, executed
the gameplan and proved that you can beat a tough Fusion team. Well-done and well-deserved!
Let’s Go Gryphs!
Coach Doug