GUELPH, Ont. – Thursday evening at the Gryphon Centre, the Gryphons women's hockey team earned a 3-1 win over the visiting Waterloo Warriors in a matchup of two of the top teams in the OUA. The Gryphons, who came into the night tied with Waterloo for 4th in the 13-team conference standings, scored two goals just :42 seconds apart in the 1st period and added an empty netter late to improve to 6-4-0 on the season.
 
The Waterloo Warriors (6-2-0) came into Thursday night's game as one of the hottest teams in the conference, riding a six-game win streak. The Gryphons, who themselves just five days ago saw their five-game win streak come to an end, would dominate play in the opening period, outshooting Waterloo 11-5. At the 14:44 mark of the opening period, the Gryphons would be rewarded when second year forward Kristen Jay would pot a rebound for her second goal of the season to give the Gryphons a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, the Gryphon lead would grow to 2-0 when Ashlee Lawrence would set up Kelly Gribbons for her team-leading 7th goal of the season.
 
"That whole line was outstanding on that goal," said Gryphons' head coach Rachel Flanagan in reference to the Kelly Gribbons, Ashlee Lawrence, Claire Merrick line. "Kelly is a powerful and fast player, but the way she was able to track the puck on that goal and get a stick on it was outstanding. She's been unbelievable for us this year."
 
Gribbons leads the team with 12 points in 10 games and has now scored in three of the Gryphons' last four games.
 
Fourth year goalie Valerie Lamenta only needed to make 15 saves for her fourth win of the season, but several of those saves were of a high difficulty level. In the 2nd period, Lamenta made several big stops during a Gryphon penalty kill, including a sensational pad save which kept the Gryphon lead at 2-0.
 
"Val was fantastic tonight," said Flanagan. "She really held us in there during that 2nd period and made some big stops and key moments."
 
The Waterloo's lone goal of the night would come on a tip-in from Warriors' second year forward Cynthia Cavanagh at the 14:53 mark of the 2nd period. Waterloo's best chance to tie the game came late in the 3rd period when a point shot from Warriors' fifth year defenceman Stephanie Digness would ring off the post during a Waterloo power play opportunity. The Gryphons would manage to kill off the penalty before rookie Miranda Lantz would add an empty netter with nine seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Gryphons.
 
The Gryphons, who earn three points for the win in regulation, are now right back to their winning ways after they saw their five-game win streak snapped back on Saturday (Nov. 18) versus Brock.
 
The Gryphons will be back on the ice again on Saturday night (Nov. 25) when they host the Western Mustangs (6-2-2) with puck drop set for 7:30pm. Thanks to their win on Thursday night over Waterloo, the Gryphons now sit in 3rd in the OUA standings with 20 points. Western sits right behind them in 4th with 19 points. Guelph defeated Western 4-3 in overtime one week ago (Nov. 16) when the two teams met in London. Saturday night's game between the Gryphons and Mustangs will be streamed live online at oua.tv.