Guelph, ON – For the first time since the 2010-2011 season, the Gryphons men's hockey team has reached the OUA's Final Four. On Wednesday night (Feb. 25) the Gryphons will open their OUA West Division best-of-three series against the Windsor Lancers. Game time is set for 7:30pm at South Windsor Arena and can be seen live at OUA.tv.
After dropping Game 1 in each of their first two playoff series, the Gryphons were able to storm back to beat both the Waterloo Warriors and the Toronto Varsity Blues in three games. Not only are the Gryphons now in the hunt for an OUA championship, they are also on the cusp of qualifying for the CIS Championships in Halifax (March 12-15, hosted by St. Francis Xavier University).
After winning just three out of their first 16 games this season, the last thing on anyone's mind in Guelph was making it to Halifax for the CIS Men's Hockey Championships. Now, the Gryphons are on the doorstep. Of the four teams remaining in the OUA playoffs (Guelph, Windsor, McGill and UQTR),
three will qualify for the nationals.
Note: As the largest conference in Canada, the OUA receives three spots in the CIS Championships. A trio of Quebec-based schools (McGill, UQTR and Concordia) have become members of the OUA when it comes to men's hockey as the other RSEQ schools do not have men's hockey programs.
OUA WEST DIVISION FINALS OUA EAST DIVISION FINALS
(1) WINDSOR (1) McGILL
vs vs
(6) GUELPH (3) UQTR
The two teams that end up making it to the one-game, winner-take-all OUA Final (aka - the Queen's Cup), will both automatically qualify for the CIS Championships. The other two teams will meet in a one-game, third-place showdown in which the winner also qualifies for the nationals. For now however, Halifax is an afterthought. The sole focus for the Gryphons is on their upcoming best-of-three series with the defending OUA champion Windsor Lancers.
The Lancers return several key players from last year's squad that won the OUA title. Headlining that group is Windsor's fifth year goaltender Parker Van Buskirk. The Windsor native, who was named a Second Team OUA All-Star a season ago, is part of a veteran team who have been-there, done-that when it comes to this time of the year, as this marks the fourth consecutive season that the Lancers have reached the OUA West Final. As Gryphons head coach Shawn Camp notes, "they are an experienced team. Their forward lines are well balanced and we will need to match their speed and limit their scoring chances. We will have to be at our best."
If the Gryphons have not been at their best of late, they have certainly been close to it. On Sunday (Feb. 22), the Gryphons thoroughly outplayed the Varsity Blues from start to finish, winning Game 3 of the series in convincing fashion 5-2. Guelph's rookie goalie
Andrew D'Agostini (Scarborough, ON) has emerged as a player capable of carrying the workload and stealing a game all on his own. Up front, the Gryphons boast a balanced attack of their own with contributions coming from talented forwards
Nick Huard,
Carlos Amestoy and
Robert De Fulviis, each of whom have the ability to make defenders miss and create offence all on their own. Aside from relying on a first year goalie, the Gryphons also have a number of first year players who have acclimated themselves to the OUA quickly and produced right away.
Mac Nichol (Listowel, ON) has had a tremendous season on the blueline for the Gryphs, and is the team's leading scorer on defence.
Scott Simmonds,
Seth Swenson and
Tryg Strand have all lived up to their billing to provide the Gryphons with some great depth and the ability to roll lines throughout the game.
The schedule for the best-of-three series is listed below. All games can be seen live on OUA.tv
Game 1: Wednesday, February 25th - 7:30pm (South Windsor Arena)
Game 2: Friday, February 27th - 7:30pm (Gryphon Centre)
Game 3 (if necessary): Saturday, February 28th - 7:30pm (South Windsor Arena)
