GUELPH, Ont. - With the season on the line for both teams, the result seemed to be very much up in the air through most of the game Sunday night at the Gryphon Centre. Playing a back and forth winner take all game three, the Guelph Gryphons and Laurier Golden Hawks had a difficult time separating themselves from the opposing side for much of the contest. That was until Ryan Valentini came up with his biggest goal of the season to give the Gryphons a 4-2 lead late in the third that they would go on to win with.
With his team ahead 3-2 and less than seven minutes to play in the third, Valentini made his way into the offensive zone and unleashed a laser of a snap-shot into the back of the goal giving the Gryphons some breathing room for the first time all night.
Following the goal, and the remaining six plus minutes running off the clock, and big sigh of relief came over the Gryphon faithful, who were enthusiastic all night long with multiple "let's go Gryphons" chants ringing through the rink.
With nervous energy aplenty as the game got underway, it did not take very long for the Gryphons to get the home town crowd on their foot and right into the game. After the Golden Hawks were called for an early penalty, Guelph quickly made them pay. Jumping on the puck in the Laurier slot, Marc Stevens spun around and fired a blind back-handed shot past Matt Williams and into the Golden Hawk's net to put the Gryphons up 1-0 just 1:47 in to the game. As the rest of the period played out, neither side was able to find the back of the net giving the Gryphons the one goal lead heading into the break.
When Stevens scored his first period goal, that meant for the third straight game the Gryphons were able to get on the board first. Unfortunately for Guelph, another trend from the series continued in the middle frame. Although the Gryphons scored first in each game, for the third straight contest the Golden Hawks were able to score the second goal of the night and tie the game 1-1. After a point shot got blocked in front of Guelph's goal and lost in multiple skates, Neil Aird found it in time for the visitors to get it past Brendan Cregan. However, shortly after the equalizing goal was scored, Guelph was sent back to the power-play where they would again make no mistake. In a similar fashion to the Laurier goal, the Gryphons fired a point shot towards the net which hit bodies in front and wound up on the stick of Todd Winder and he sent it into the open cage.
Able to take the 2-1 advantage into the final frame, the Gryphons were just twenty minutes away from advancing to the OUA West Semi-Finals, but the Golden Hawks would not make it easy.
Five and a half minutes into the period Laurier again tied the game. Once again with the puck bouncing around the Gryphon's crease, Matt McJannet got a stick on the puck and lifted it up and over Cregan tying the game 2-2. For the Gryphons though, adversity was nothing new. Having dealt with a variety of different things already in their three playoff games, the Gryphons treated the 2-2 score as just one more task in front of them. Just over two minutes after Laurier had tied things up, Bobby Dow got his stick on a loose puck in the Laurier crease and put the Gryphons back up by one, which set up perfectly for Valentini's snipe to seal the deal.
"That's how the playoffs roll," said Gryphons head coach Shawn Camp. "When you have adversity like we have had it is all about how you respond and the guys did a great job of responding the right way."
"Our guys have been selfless, and playing for each other throughout the series," Camp added.
In goal, Cregan turned aside 18 of the 20 shots he faced, while the Gryphons got four goals past Williams on 27 shots. With the man-advantage Guelph finished the game 2 for 3 with Laurier going 0 for 3.
With their ticket punched to the OUA West Semi-Finals, the Gryphons will take on the rival Brock Badgers. Game one will be played Thursday at 7:30 from the Gryphon Centre.
