Gryphon men ride Frosty Mug vibe to win over Lakehead

GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons connected for three goals in the first period as they dropped the Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-1 in their annual Frosty Mug Game at the Sleeman Centre.

The hosts opened the scoring 63 seconds into the OUA men’s hockey match played before a crowd of 4,942 enthusiastic fans.

The Gryphs led 3-0 at the end of the first period and 4-1 after the second.

Hunter Brazier, Nolan DeGurse and Jaxon Camp on a power play scored the first-period goals for Guelph before Tyler Ho collected a power-play goal for Lakehead early in the second. Luke Kutkevicius got that one back for the Gryphs about six and a half minutes later and Jonah De Simone added an unassisted goal with 1:11 to go in the game.

Luke Bignell had two assists for the Gryphs while Nathan Allensen, Brazier, DeGurse, De Simone and Giordano Biondi each had one assist.

Spencer Blackwell of Erin assisted on Lakehead’s goal.

The Gryphs won despite being outshot 35-14. Lakehead held a 26-6 advantage in shots after the first period.

Both teams went 1-for-5 on their power plays.

Tanner Wickware had 34 saves for the Gryphs while Max Wright had nine for Lakehead.

The result leaves the Gryphs at 11-12-0 in league play and Lakehead at 9-12-1.

The teams are to meet again Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Gryphon Centre.

• Guelph Sports Journal