The Guelph Gryphon men's hockey team traveled to Windsor today (Jan. 7) to take on the Windsor Lancers, but were overwhelmed by their opponents and lost 8-3.
 
The Gryphons sink to 4-11-4, while the Lancers advance to 9-9 in the OUA West division.  
 
The Lancers opened up a 3-0 lead to open the first period. Tom Craig (St.Louis, MO) and Derek Lanoue (Belle River, ON) each scored their first of the game, before Ryan Green (Essex, ON) scored his ninth of the year to give Windsor a three goal advantage.
 
The Gryphons would score their first of three power play goals at the 15:21 mark of the opening frame with a goal from Ben Clarke (Halifax, NS).
 
Guelph's Jon-Thomas MacDonald (Niagara Falls, ON) snapped a quick shot past Lancer goaltender Parker Van Buskirk (Windsor, ON) to make it a one goal game at 5:18 of the second period.
 
With just over ten minutes remaining in the period, Brett Oliphant (Wheatley, ON) would score his first of two consecutive goals to bring Windsor up by two. Oliphant would score again just two and a half minutes later on a Guelph power play.
 
Evan Stibbard (Windsor, ON) scored his tenth of the year at 16:35 to close out the scoring in the second period and give the Lancers a 6-2 lead heading into the final period.
 
Windsor again struck first in the third period with Lanoue's second of the game, giving Windsor a 7-2 lead with 15 minutes to play.
 
After a surplus of penalties, the Gryphons' Marco Franchini (Woodbridge, ON) scored their final goal of the game with the man advantage at 8:31 of the period.
 
Craig closed out the scoring with his second marker at 18:20 to give the Lancers the 8-3 advantage.
 
Cody St. Jacques (Iroquois Falls, ON) stopped 45 of Windsor's shots, while Van Buskirk had 31 saves in net for the Lancers.
 
The Gryphons will have their chance to exact revenge on the Lancers Friday, January 13, at the second game of a home and home series; the puck drops at 7:30 p.m.