Gryphon men fade in third as TMU rallies for win
TORONTO – The Guelph Gryphons suffered their fourth consecutive loss as they were handed a 5-2 setback by the Toronto Metropolitan Bold in OUA men’s hockey play Saturday at TMU’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
TMU scored the final four goals of the game, including three in the third period, for the win.
The Gryphs led 2-1 at the end of the first period and the game was tied 2-2 at the end of the second. TMU shot ahead for good with a power-play goal at 7:48 of the third.
Jaxon Camp and Nathan Allensen had a goal apiece for Guelph while assists went to Jacob Winterton, Anthony Tabak and Luke Kutkevicius.
Ian Martin struck for two goals and an assist for the Bold while the other goals were scored by William Portokalis, Chris Playfair and Artem Duda. Ryan Wells had two assists while Cole Resnick, Elijah Roberts, Joe Rupoli and Kyle Bollers each had one.
The Bold outshot the Gryphs 14-3 in the third period and 43-26 overall. The hosts also went 1-for-3 on their power play while the Gryphs were scoreless on three power plays.
Brock Badgers lead the OUA West at 21-6-0 (W-L-OTL/SOL) while TMU is second at 19-7-1. They’re followed by the Toronto Varsity Blues (16-10-1), Windsor Lancers (13-11-2), Laurier Golden Hawks (13-12-2), Lakehead Thunderwolves (13-12-2), Nipissing Lakers (10-12-5), the Gryphs (11-15-1), Western Mustangs (8-18-0) and Waterloo Warriors (4-18-4).
Despite the loss, the Gryphs are still clinging to a spot in the playoff race, but they will need help from Lakehead. Top seven qualify for the playoffs with the 6th– and 7th-placed teams meeting in a play-in game.
The Gryphs, who haven’t won since a 5-1 victory over Lakehead in the Frosty Mug Game at the Sleeman Centre Jan. 18, are to wrap up their season Thursday when they’re to host Western in their annual Aggies Night game at the Gryphon Centre. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The Gryphs need to win that game in regulation time or overtime (not in a shootout) and have Nipissing lose to Lakehead at Thunder Bay Friday night. If that happens, the Gryphs and Nipissing will finish in a tie and Guelph will win the tiebreaker.
The first tiebreaker in OUA hockey, both men and women, is the number of league wins (regulation and overtime). If the above scenario plays out, the Gryphs would have 11 regulation and overtime wins, one more than Nipissing.
However, if the Gryphs beat Western in a shootout and Nipissing loses to Lakehead, the Lakers will win the tiebreaker as both Guelph and Nipissing would have 10 regulation and overtime wins. Second tiebreaker is the record in head-to-head competition and the Lakers beat the Gryphs twice and both games were played at North Bay. Nipissing won 2-1 Sept. 23 in the season opener and 4-1 Nov. 29. While the Gryphs have lost four consecutive games, Nipissing has dropped six in a row.
Whichever team gets seventh place in the division is to play the play-in game on the road next Sunday (Feb. 11). That game is to be played in either Windsor against the Lancers, Waterloo against Laurier or Thunder Bay against Lakehead.
Windsor is to host Laurier Friday and Waterloo Saturday while Friday’s game at Windsor is the only one left on Laurier’s schedule and Lakehead’s game against Nipissing Friday is the final one on the Thunderwolves’ regular-season schedule.
The Gryphs are 3-1-2 in the history of Aggies Night. However, they have a win in a shootout and a loss in overtime in the two games after Aggies Night was moved to the final home game of the regular season following the 2020-2021 season that was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Guelph is looking for its first OUA playoff appearance since winning the league championship Queen’s Cup March 7, 2020.
- Guelph Sports Journal