WINDSOR, ON – Last season, the Gryphons men's hockey team won a pair of decisive Game 3's on the road en route to capturing their first OUA title in nearly 20 years. This year, they will need to pull off another Game 3 victory, this time on home ice, if they are to take another step closer to repeating as conference champions. Saturday night at South Windsor Arena, the Gryphons lost 5-2 to the Lancers in Game 2 of their OUA West Quarter-final matchup. With the best-of-three series now tied 1-1, the Gryphons and Lancers will meet up Sunday night in Guelph (7:30pm) with the winner of that game booking a spot in the OUA West Semi-finals.
 
After a convincing 6-2 win over the Lancers in Game 1 Thursday night, the Gryphons made the trip to Windsor hoping to sweep away the Lancers for a second straight postseason. However, the Lancers jumped out to a 1-0 lead three and half minutes into the game when a snap shot from Windsor's Kyle Hope beat a screened Andrew D'Agostini. The Gryphons would respond just 1:28 later when Mac Nichol's point shot was re-directed home by Cody Thompson to tie the game at 1-1. Before the end of the opening period, Windsor was able to re-take the lead when Tyson Ness finished off an odd-man rush to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead heading to the second.
 
The second period saw plenty of chances but no goals, thanks in large part to Gryphons netminder Andrew D'Agostini. The Lancers seemed poised to take a 3-1 lead during a power play opportunity when the puck came to Dylan Denomme by the side of the net. D'Agostini was able to slide over and rob Denomme on the doorstep to keep it one goal game. The Gryphons came close to scoring on a power play opportunity of their own, but a wrist shot from Robert Lepine hit the iron and stayed out as it was still a 2-1 game after 40 minutes.
 
Just over a minute into the third, the Lancers were able to find the back of the net to push their lead to 3-1. The Gryphons would once again respond, this time with some beautiful tick-tack-toe passing finished off by Scott Simmonds to make it a 3-2 game with 13 minutes still to play. However, the Lancers would seal the victory with a pair of goals coming just nine seconds apart to take the game 5-2 and even the series at a game apiece.
 
The Gryphons were outshot in the game 39-27 with D'Agostini making 34 saves in the loss. The two teams combined for 48 minutes of penalties in what was, at times, a chippy affair.