Early goals sink Gryphon men in loss to defending champs
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons yielded a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the game, including one six seconds into the match, as they suffered a 4-1 loss to the defending champion UQTR Patriotes in OUA men’s hockey play Friday night at the Gryphon Centre.
UQTR led 2-0 at the end of the first period and 3-1 after the second.
Nolan DeGurse struck for a power-play goal for the Gryphs almost exactly a period after the visitors had staked themselves to their early 2-0 lead. Nathan Allensen and Jacob Winterton assisted on the goal.
Pier-Olivier Roy, Lois Rafanomezantsoa (on a power play), Anthony Munroe-Boucher and Felix Lafrance with an empty-netter with 1:17 to go accounted for the scoring for UQTR. Conor Frenette and Vincent Milot-Ouellet each had two goals for the Patriotes while singletons were netted by Charles Beaudoin and Jordan Lepage.
UQTR outshot the Gryphs 34-24 mainly due to a 13-5 advantage in the third period. Guelph went 1-for-4 on the power play while UQTR was 1-for-6.
Tanner Wickware had 30 saves for the Gryphs while Charles-Antoine Lavallee had 23 for the Patriotes.
Guelph is sixth in the West Division at 9-12-0, a point behind the Lakehead Thunderwolves (9-10-1), one point up on the Windsor Lancers (8-9-1), two up on the Laurier Golden Hawks (7-11-2) and four ahead of the Western Mustangs (7-13-0).
The Gryphs are to host the 10th-place Waterloo Warriors (3-15-1) in their Alumni Day game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the Gryphon Centre.
- Guelph Sports Journal