The Guelph Gryphons U15 AL team won the Orangeville Ray Hunt Memorial Classic tournament this past weekend Dec 12-14 showing resilience, determination, skill, and disciplined play while gelling as a team throughout the weekend.
The boys dominated against all but one opponent in their 4 round robin games and the semi-final and finals on Sunday, putting up 37 goals for while giving up only 8 against, including 2 shutouts and 3 games with only 1 goal against.
A first game loss to Burlington 5-1 served as a wake up call and the boys responded with 16-0 and 8-0 back to back wins, and a 5-1 tally to take the 1st seed into finals Sunday.
After a slow start in the semi-final, the team kicked into gear with a goal late in the 2nd period and potted another 4 goals in the 3rd for a solid 5-1 win to get them into the final, a rematch against Burlington.
In a close fought final, the boys dug deep carrying a one goal lead into the 3rd period before Burlington tied it up at 12:23. A power play goal with 4:43 left in the 3rd put Guelph ahead, and strong team defense and goaltending kept them in it until the championship was cemented at the final buzzer when the boys poured over the boards and showered the ice with hockey gloves as they rushed to celebrate the championship with their goalie.