Box Score
Kingston, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team had their solid 2012-13 season come to an end tonight with a 3-1 loss to the No. 7 Queens Gaels in Game 2 of the OUA Semifinals in Kingston, Ont. The Gryphons fell 4-2 to the Gaels on Thursday in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.
 
The Gryphons, went 21-3-2 in the regular season, good for second in the OUA standings and finished the playoffs 2-2 to bring their season to an end.  
 
The first half of the opening period was all Gryphons, as Guelph challenged Gaels starting goaltender Melanie Dodd-Moher who was able to stop a partial break early on. The Gryphons continued the pressure keeping the puck in the Gaels end as the game reached the mid-way point of the period.
 
Guelph found themselves in penalty trouble as the Gaels went up on a five on three advantage. Alisha Sealey stepped in from the point on the half boards and made a pass through the blue ice to an open Chantal Morais for an easy goal to put Queen's up 1-0. Queen's outshot the Gryphons 20 to five in the first period, getting the puck through to the net on their power play chances.
 
Special teams continued to be the story of the game in the second period as the Gryphons went on the offensive with a power play early, Jessica Pinkerton (Oshawa, Ont.) fired a shot from the slot that deflected off the post and wide. After a face-off win in the Gaels zone, the puck made its way to Emily Corbett (Toronto) whose point shot was stopped by Dodd-Moher but Christine Grant (Mississauga, Ont.) put away the rebound to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Gaels came on strong in the third, scoring at 3:05 with a goal from Morgan McHaffie (Guelph, ON), assisted by Brittany McHaffie (Guelph, ON) to go up 2-1.
 
Guelph started to apply pressure as the end of their season was staring them down. Gina Murray (Lucknow, Ont.) fired a shot through traffic from the half boards but it was handled by Dodd-Moher.?
 
Stepanie Nehring was doing her best to keep Guelph in the game making a miraculous save with just over five minutes remaining as the puck jumped over her shoulder and she was able to spin around and swipe the puck out of the air and into the corner.
 
However, with less than a minute left in the game, Shawna Griffin combined with McHaffie, and McHaffie on a powerplay to give Queens a 3-1 victory.
 
Stephanie Nehring stopped 39 of 36 shots for the Gryphons and Melianie Dodd-Moher earned the win for the Gaels, stopping 22 of 21 shots.
 
The Gaels will now advance to the OUA Championship series next week. Queen's will play the winner of No. 4 Laurier and No. 10 Western. Currently the Mustangs hold a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series.
 
- With Files from Queens -