Gryphon hockey women eliminated by Brock

GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons had their OUA women’s hockey league season come to an abrupt end Saturday night when they were edged 2-1 by the Brock Badgers in the West Division semifinals.

Due to a late start of the season and a lengthy break for a exams, Christmas holidays and a pandemic shutdown, the playoff series are single-game affairs this year.

Brock 2 Guelph Gryphons 1

The Gryphs finished second in the West with a .667 winning percentage while Brock was third at .479.

However all three regular-season games between the Gryphs and Badgers were one-goal games with Guelph winning 1-0 at St. Catharines Nov. 25, 1-0 in a shootout at home Nov. 27 and 3-2 in overtime at home March 1.

Saturday night, the Gryphs were assessed the first five penalties of the game and six of 10 called in the match.

Brock opened the scoring with a power-play goal by Emma Irwin at 3:39 of the second period and extended the lead on a goal by Claudia Murphy at 2:05 of the third. Assists on the goals went to Cassidy Maplethorpe, Carley Blomberg and Catriona Cormier.

Meaghan Chittick scored an unassisted goal for the Gryphs with one minute to go in the match.

The Gryphs outshot Brock 30-22.

Martina Fedel had 20 saves for the Gryphs while Tiffany Hsu had 29 for the Badgers.

The Gryphs have qualified for the playoffs every season since the 1989-1990 campaign when they had a 3-12 record in the regular season.

• Guelph Sports Journal