Crazy eights as Gryphon hockey men dumped by Ottawa
OTTAWA – The Guelph Gryphons will be hoping that the break for exams and Christmas has come at the right time.
The Gryphs were dropped 8-1 by the Ottawa Gee-Gees in OUA men’s hockey play Saturday at the Minto Sports Complex for their fourth consecutive setback with the opposition scoring eight times in three of those defeats. The Gryphs have been outscored 28-5 in those four losses.
The Gee-Gees led 3-0 at the end of the first period Saturday and 6-1 after the second.
Nathan Allenson scored a power-play goal midway through the second period for the lone goal for the Gryphs. Assists on the goal went to Liam Ham and Nolan Forster.
Marc-Antoine Seguin had two goals and an assist for Ottawa while Max Grondin had a goal and two assists. Other goals were scored by Luka Verreault, Tommy Bouchard, Justin McRae, Bradley Chenier and Evan Boucher. Peter Stratis had three assists while Nick Bowman and goalie Franky Lapenna had two apiece and Verreault, Johnny Howie, McRae, Adam Sandstrom and Grayson Ladd each had one.
The Gee-Gees outshot the Gryphs 42-23 and went 2-for-4 on the power-play while the Gryphs went 1-for-5.
Tanner Wickware had 34 saves in his 16th game of the season. He appeared in 10 games last season and four in 2021-22, his rookie season. Lapenna had 22 saves for Ottawa.
The Gryphs head into the break fifth in the OUA West at 8-10-0. Brock Badgers lead at 14-4-0 while the Toronto Varsity Blues are second at 12-5-0, Toronto Metropolitan Bold third at 11-5-0 and Lakehead Thunderwolves fourth at 8-8-1. The Windsor Lancers are sixth at 7-8-0, Western Mustangs (6-11-0) and Laurier Golden Hawks (5-11-2) are tied for seventh, York Lions are ninth at 3-12-1 and Waterloo Warriors are 10th at 3-14-1.
Ottawa (11-4-1) is in a three-way tie for second in the OUA East with the McGill Redbirds (11-4-1) and Queen’s Gaels (11-6-1). UQTR Patriotes lead at 13-4-0.
Next outing for the Gryphs is to be Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Gryphon Centre against York.
- Guelph Sports Journal