GUELPH – The past few seasons have marked one of the most successful stretches in the history of women's hockey at the University of Guelph. Along the way, the Gryphons, winners of each of the past two OUA championships, have been nearly unbeatable at home. Thursday night, however, in the team's opening game of the 2017-18 OUA regular season, the Gryphons suffered a rare defeat on home ice. The Ryerson Rams became the first visiting team in just over two years to defeat the Gryphons on their home
ice in a regular season game.
The thrilling back-and-forth affair saw the Gryphons lead 3-1 in the 2nd period before the Rams mounted a dramatic comeback, capped by Ryerson's fourth year defenceman Alex Rodriguez, who scoring the game-winner with just under three minutes remaining in the final period. With the result, Ryerson improves to 2-0-0 on the season while the Gryphons fall to 0-1-0.
"Ryerson was really opportunistic tonight and had some solid goaltending," said Gryphons head coach
Rachel Flanagan. "We generated a bunch of really good scoring opportunities tonight, but we just weren't able to capitalize on enough of them in the end."
Midway through the 3rd period with the score tied at 3-3, the Gryphons had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:21 and came agonizingly close to scoring the go-ahead goal on multiple occasions. But the Rams, led by sophomore goalie Rachel Seeley, managed to kill off the two-man advantage, and would follow that up by scoring on a power play opportunity of their own moments later to take the lead. Ryerson's game-winning goal was a re-directed shot that trickled past Gryphons goalie Valerie Lamenta before going off the post and in.
The night, which started with an unveiling of the Gryphons 2016-17 OUA championship banner, saw a pair of key contributors to last year's title-winning squad get their 2017-18 campaigns off to a hot start.
Fourth year forward and newly named team captain, Kaitlin Lowy, would open the scoring less than two minutes into the game after breaking in alone and firing a shot five-hole on Ryerson goalie Rachel Seeley. The Gryphon lead would grow to 2-0 midway through the period when fifth year forward Kelly Gribbons was quick to react to a ricochet off the end boards for her first of the season.
For the most part, the Gryphons were dominating the play through the first 40 minutes, outshooting the Rams 28-15. Overall, the Gryphons generated 37 shots on net (compared to 24 by Ryerson) and also received a goal from fourth year forward Mackenzie Wong, who fired home her first of the season from the slot to push the Gryphon lead to 3-1 early in the 2nd.
However, closing out periods proved to be a challenge for the Gryphs, as Ryerson was able to strike for a pair of late goals, scoring with :35 seconds left in the 1st and again with :38 seconds remaining in the 2nd. The Rams would then carry that momentum into the final period of play, where they received a pair of power play goals from Kryshanda Green and Alex Rodriguez to complete the comeback.
The Ryerson win marks the Gryphons first regular season loss on home ice since October 10, 2015 (3-1 to Toronto). The No. 6-ranked Gryphons are back in action on Saturday afternoon at York University where they will face the 0-1-0 Lions. York lost their season opener against Ryerson, 7-2, back on October 15. Puck drop at York is set for 2pm with the game streaming live online at oua.tv.
