The Guelph Gryphon men's hockey team record moves to 2-2-0 after handing the UOIT Ridgebacks a 8-1 loss tonight (Oct. 16) at the Gryphon Centre.
The Gryphons outshot the Ridgebacks 42-18 with 15 of those shots coming in a second period barrage which saw Guelph score four unanswered goals; two on the power play.
Cody St. Jacques (Iroquois Falls, Ont.) was in net for the Gryphons and made 17 saves on 18 shots. While UOIT goaltender Jason Guy was in net for the first two periods, making 23 saves on 28 shots. He was relived by Jeff Dawson who stopped 12-of-15 shots he faced in the third period.
Guelph was led by
Kris Belan (Florence, Ont.) who registered a hat-trick on the night. Belan now has four goals on the season.
The Gryphons took a 1-0 lead in the first period. Belan opened the Gryphon scoring after firing a wrist shot from the top of the slot at the 7:53 mark. The goal was assisted by
Edward Gale (Keswick, Ont.) and
Thomas Kiriakou (Richmond Hill, Ont.). It was the lone goal of the period and ended with shots on net in Guelph's favour 13-9.
The Gryphons exploded in the second period scoring four goals in only nine minutes. Zach Lille (Bracebridge, Ont.) started the flurry of scoring for Guelph and earned his first goal of the season. After getting the puck at the blue line, Lillie made a beautiful deke on the UOIT goaltender to score an unassisted backhanded goal at 11:52. Up next it was
Nathan Martine (Port Colborne, Ont.) who scored on a power play marker at 13:37 after his slap shot fired into the net. His goal was assisted by Kiriakou and Tim Priamo (Guelph, Ont.).
Kris Belan then scored his second on the night to give Guelph a 4-0 lead at the 15:31 minute mark. To end the Gryphon scoring in the second period,
Thomas Kiriakou shovelled a backhanded power play goal in the net at 18:21, which was assisted by Gale and Belan.
In the third period,
Geoff Guimond started the scoring for Guelph on a power play opportunity at 6:23 in the period. After a shot on net by
Alex Magera was deflected by newly entered UOIT goalie Jeff Dawson, Guimond found the rebound in front of the net and scored top shelf. A minute later, the Gryphons would then go up 7-0 following a great setup play by the team which found rookie Andrew Merritt (Vernon, Ont.) scoring his first of the season at 7:34. Brendan Wise finally put the Ridgebacks on the scoreboard and closed out St.Jacques chances of earning the shutout after scoring at 14:17 in the third.
Belan would then earn his hat trick on a goal at 14:52 in the third period to cap off the night for the Gryphons and earn the 8-1 victory.
Up next the Gryphons play the Lakehead Thunderwolves for a doubleheader in Thunder Bay on October 22 and 23. Game time for both games is 7:30 p.m.
