WATERLOO, Ont. – As the No. 8-ranked team in the country and the first-place team in the OUA West division, the Gryphons men's hockey team has handled most of the challenges thrown their way to this point in the 2017-18 season. Saturday afternoon's game at Laurier presented the Gryphs with a new challenge: dealing with a tight turnaround. The Gryphons, who were less than 24 hours removed from a hard-fought Friday night victory over Toronto, would handle the tight turnaround challenge just fine, winning 5-3 over the Laurier Golden Hawks in a Saturday afternoon affair at the Waterloo Recreational Complex. 
 
"Any time you have to play a back-to-back situation, it is going to be tough, especially when both games are on the road," said Gryphons assistant coach Justin Stevens. "The guys were resilient today. They stayed positive, kept pushing and found a way to win."
 
Trailing 3-2 midway through the third period, the Gryphons got a pair of goals from Cody Thompson as well as an empty netter from Michael Stevens to secure the 5-3 road win. With the victory, the Gryphons improve to 18-5-1 on the season and now sit four points clear of second-place York for top spot in the OUA West division. The Gryphons also have a game-in-hand on the Lions. Laurier meanwhile fall to 13-8-3 and sit fourth in the standings.
 
Gryphons rookie goalie Andrew Masters made 24 saves for the win, including several big stops in the opening period, none better than a pad save to deny Laurier during a 2-on-0 break. The Gryphons would strike twice in the opening period, with rookie blueliner Mathieu Henderson (Brantford, ON) firing home his 3rd goal of the season to give the Gryphons a 1-0 lead midway through the first. With less than a minute to go in the opening frame, the Gryphon lead would grow to 2-0 thanks to a highlight reel effort from first-year phenom Todd Winder. Winder would undress a Golden Hawks defender before going five-hole on Laurier goalie Chris Festarini. It was Winder's team-leading 14th goal of the season, putting him just three goals behind the top goal scorers in all of U SPORTS.
 
After Laurier stormed back to tie the game up at 2-2 with a pair of second period goals, the Gryphons would find themselves on an extended short-handed situation early in the third period after Josh McFadden was given a 10-minute major for charging. The Golden Hawks would take advantage on the power play, with Erik Pushka scoring at the 2:47 mark to put Laurier ahead 3-2.
 
The Gryphons would respond at the 9:02 mark when third year forward Cody Thompson (Mississauga, ON) would tip home Mark Raycroft's point shot to tie the game at 3-3. Thompson, a former member of the OHL's Mississauga Steelheads, would strike again with 1:20 remaining in regulation, potting a rebound past Festarini to put the Gryphons ahead 4-3 with his 2nd of the night and 9th of the season.
 
The empty netter from Michael Stevens would cap a dominant third period by the Gryphons, who outshot the Hawks 13-4 over the final 20 minutes of play.
 
Saturday afternoon's game, which was a re-match of the Frosty Mug played nine days prior, also featured plenty of rough stuff, with the two teams combining for 51 minutes of penalties, including a pair of 10-minute misconducts (one by each team).
 
The Gryphons (18-5-1) will wrap up their current four-game road trip with a trip to York University on Friday (Feb. 2) for a matchup with the defending OUA champion Lions (16-8-1). The Gryphons and Lions, the top two teams in the OUA West, will play twice within a seven-day span (Feb. 2 & Feb. 8). Guelph's final game of the OUA regular season is set for Friday, Feb. 9 at Ryerson.