Guelph did not disappoint the 300+ fans that showed up at the Gryphon Centre this afternoon (Nov.14) defeating the Nipissing Lakers in a whopping 6-2 victory. The Gryphons move to 4-5-2 on the season. Derek Knowles (Vanderhoof, B.C.) and Kris Belan (Florence, Ont.) each netted two for the Gryphons in the victory, while Belan remained an unstoppable force in the physical game as well, dealing out more than his fair share of bone-crushing hits on the Lakers.

Matt Smith (Waterloo, Ont.) started again for the Gryphons picking up the win with 14 saves, including a paddle save on an open net chance for the Lakers.

Other major contributors for the Gryphons included Ed Gale (Keswick, Ont.) who picked up THREE assists, Thomas Kiriakou (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Nathan Martine (Port Coloborne, Ont.) each added a goal, and Tim Priamo (Guelph, Ont.) chipped in two assists as well.

The first period played host to six of the eight goals in the game. Nipissing got on the board first after Smith was tangled up with a Gryphon and Laker in the net and a shot on net from the sideboards found the back of the net.

It was the Gryphons who owned the first period though, scoring four goals before Nipissing was able to get their second.

Knowles scored the first two for the Gryphons in similar front-of-the-net scramble situations. Knowles slid the first under the pads of the Nipissing netminder, while his second came after he made a play to keep the puck in the Laker end. The puck was worked to the front of the net before it popped out of the feet of a number of players on to the tape of Knowles' stick, flipping it in the back of the net.

Guelph picked up their third goal when Tim Priamo went end-to-end, around the Nipissing net and dumped it to the hash marks in front of the net where Nathan Martine made no mistake of ripping over the goalie.

The Gryphons also put home a shorthanded goal in the first when Thomas Kiriakou was putting pressure on a dumped puck. Nipissing goaltender Matt Hache (Guelph, Ont.) had some trouble controlling the puck behind the net and the swooping Kiriakou ended up with the puck, wrapping around and sliding the puck into the open net.

The four scores led to a goalie change for Nipissing, replacing Hache with Kyle Cantlon.

The Lakers would beat Smith once more in the period off a hard shot from Laker captain Matt Lahey, making the score 4-2 as the teams left the ice for the first intermission.

The excitement continued into the second period which saw Guelph put up another two scores.

Waiting for the Gryphons to clear the zone to prevent the offside, Priamo flipped the puck in where Kris Belan gained control with an open lane to the net. Instead of taking it all the way in, Belan decided to throw a low, hard saucer on net, which hovered across the ice and through the five-hole of the new Nipissing goalie.

Belan would add yet another Gryphon goal in the second on the powerplay. With Martine controlling the squad from the point, he sent a shot-pass from the blue line to the side of the net where Ed Gale redirected it to Belan on the opposite side, stuffing it in for his second of the night.

Guelph would enter the third up 6-2 and after a high-paced twenty minutes, would finish the game with that same score.

Guelph has won their last two games and hopes to continue the streak as they head to Toronto next week (Nov. 20/21) to take on the UofT Varsity Blues and the Ryerson Rams.
 

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

1. NIP: Gallea, (Lahey, Maunu) 2:04

2. GUE: Knowles, (Gale, Brook) 2:59

3. GUE: Knowles, (Gale, Lyall) 11:01

4. GUE: Martine, (Kiriakou, Priamo) 15:33

5. GUE: Kiriakou, 17:38 (SH)

6. NIP: Lahey, (Jarick) 19:20

2nd Period

7. GUE: Belan, (Priamo) 5:18

8. GUE: Belan, (Gale, Martine) 13:19 (PP)