RIDGETOWN, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team is starting to win some fans over from a small town nearly two and a half hours away from Guelph.

On Thursday night (Sept. 27), the Gryphons men's hockey team played host to the Windsor Lancers in the second edition of the "Ridgetown Showdown." The preseason game took place in the rural community of Ridgetown, Ontario, home to the University of Guelph's Ridgetown Campus. Gryphons fourth-year defenceman Zach McFadden scored the game-winning goal midway through the 3rd period to give the Gryphons a 3-2 win in front of a near capacity crowd of over 700 fans at East Kent Memorial Arena. 
 
"This was a phenomenal experience for our players," said Gryphons head coach Shawn Camp. "Our guys received a tour of this beautiful campus and the individuals from the Ridgetown staff and community are so welcoming. It was a great experience for our rookies, and definitely a game that our returning players were looking forward to as well. Our guys are truly getting a sense of how the U of G family extends well off just the main campus in Guelph."

The University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus is an agriculturally-focused research and education centre located in the heart of Canadian agriculture country in the Chatham-Kent municipality. The campus, which is about a two and a half hour drive from Guelph, features 450 acres of research and campus grounds and has just over 700 students specializing in diploma certificate, Masters and PhD. programs.
 
"We look forward to this event, it's a highlight for us and really enhances our relationship with our community," says Ken McEwan, Director of the Ridgetown Campus.

"It's great for our staff, it's great for our students, it's something we build around and it's just a nice event all the way around."

For a second consecutive year, the venue for the event was East Kent Memorial Arena, which is walking distance from the Ridgetown campus. The facility, which was first built in 1954 before undergoing significant renovations and additions both in the 1970's as well as the mid 1990's, has primarily served as the host to minor hockey games in the Chatham-Kent municipality.

The Gryphons unveiled custom "Ridgetown" jerseys for the game, several of which were raffled off to fans throughout the game. ​

One of those lucky fans to go home with a jersey was Paul Sayers, a Ridgetown graduate in 1998 (Associate Diploma in Agriculture). "It's an exciting event for the whole community," says Sayers, a Ridgetown resident who works as a crop inputs manager at Southwest Ag. Partners Inc. 

"I know that my three kids were all excited to hear that this event was coming back for a second straight year. It's a fun night." 

Paul's wife, Amber, is also a Ridgetown grad (Veterinary Technology, 1999) and currently works on the Ridgetown Campus within the dairy education centre.

The excitement from the alumni was also evident within the current Ridgetown student-body. For Bridget Heeman, a second-year Agricultural Diploma student, Thursday's game served as a reminder of the greater connection that exists between Ridgetown and the University of Guelph, "You can feel a little disconnected at times being a few hours down the 401, so it's really great to have them come out here and to feel that connection back to main campus.

We don't have any varsity sports on our campus, just some intramurals, so everyone was really excited to have them out here."

After trailing 2-1 heading to the 3rd period, the Gryphons made sure to send the Ridgetown crowd home happy with a pair of 3rd period goals from rookie Connor Bramwell and veteran Zach McFadden.

The Gryphons are now 2-1 in the preseason, and will play three more exhibition games before dropping the puck on the 2018-19 OUA regular season. 

Up next for the Gryphons, a re-match with the Lancers on Saturday night at South Windsor Arena. The Gryphons will then head south of the border for a pair of exhibition games versus NCAA competition (Clarkson Golden Knights - Oct. 6, Colgate Raiders - Oct. 7).

The regular season officially gets underway on Thursday, Oct. 11 with the Ryerson Rams visiting the Gryphon Centre.
 

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"Ridgetown Showdown" Scoring Summary

1st Period
Guelph goal (#2 Reilly O'Connor - assisted by #28 Todd Winder and #15 Cody Thompson - 7:59)
Windsor goal (#19 Alex Friesen - short-handed, unassisted - 18:17)

2nd Period
Windsor goal (#10 Ethan Skinner - power play goal - assisted by #17 John Wesley - 14:36)

3rd Period
Guelph goal (#20 Connor Bramwell - assisted by #27 Seth Swenson and #26 Ted Nichol - 5:45)
Guelph goal (#7 Zach McFadden - assisted by #15 Cody Thompson and #25 Scott Simmonds - 12:56)
 

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