GUELPH, Ont. – There are 35 universities across Canada who compete in U SPORTS men's hockey. Only 10 remain.
Of the 20 teams that make up the OUA, the largest of the three U SPORTS conferences, only four remain.
And for a second consecutive year, it is the Guelph Gryphons and Western Mustangs squaring off in the OUA West Finals with a berth to the Queen's Cup on the line.
The No. 3-nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons will have home-ice advantage as they face their rivals from London in a best-of-three series which not only determines who advances to the OUA title game, but also who receives an automatic berth to nationals (March 12-15 in Halifax).
OUA West Finals
Guelph Gryphons vs Western Mustangs
Game 1: Thursday, Feb. 27 - 7:30pm (in Guelph)
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 29 - 3pm (in London)
Game 3 (if necessary): Sunday, March 1 - 7:30pm (in Guelph)
"Every team faces adversity at some point throughout the playoffs," says Gryphons head coach
Shawn Camp, now in his 13th season in charge of the University of Guelph men's hockey program. "Our team faced some adversity early on in the playoffs and have grown so much along the way. The guys are playing the right way, and that gives us a chance against a talented Western team."
The Western Mustangs will roll into Guelph Thursday night fresh off of back-to-back series wins over the No. 1 and No. 2-seeded teams in the OUA West division.
Gryphons head coach Shawn Camp
Western upset the top-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues in the opening round, before taking down the Ryerson Rams in the second round, with both series needing three games. Despite an up-and-down regular season that saw Western sneak into the playoffs as the 8th-and-final seed in the OUA West, the Gryphons know that this Mustangs team is one which boasts some of the top talent in the conference.
"Western has great depth, balanced lines up front, and some 'D' who can really move the puck," adds Camp. "Their goaltender (Lucas Peressini) has really taken his game to the next level since Christmas. We will have to stay disciplined because they have a good power play, and we'll have to match their speed along the way because they have some real game-changers."
The biggest game-changer for the Mustangs this postseason has been their fourth-year goalie, Lucas Perissini. The former Kingston Frontenac (OHL) is coming off of a pair of memorable performances versus Ryerson (43-saves in Game 2, 39 saves in Game 3), helping the Mustangs overcome a 1-0 deficit in their OUA West semi-final series with the Rams. The Gryphons are familiar with Western's standout goalie, as Perissini was in net a season ago when these two teams met in the OUA West Finals,
a series which Guelph won 2-games-to-1 thanks to a double-overtime win in London in Game 3.
For the Gryphons, this year's playoff run marks the latest in a string of memorable postseason performances, with Guelph now having reached the 3rd round of the OUA playoffs in four of the last six seasons, something no other OUA team can say.
The Gryphons now sit two wins away from returning to the OUA title game after falling just short of claiming what would have been a second OUA title in a five-year span. For head coach Shawn Camp, the key to getting past a tough Western opponent boils down to taking care of the little things, "As we get a little deeper into the playoffs, we need to make sure that we just continue to take care of our own game and play the way that we feel
we need to play," says Camp. "We need to be o the right side of the puck and not give up odd-man rushes. Western is a team that has battled through two hard rounds. We know that we're in for another tight battle with them, just like we had a year ago in the West Finals."
The Gryphons enter the series with plenty of momentum, with the team having reeled off four straight wins after a Game 1 loss to Laurier in the opening round. Last week, the Gryphons were able to sweep the Brock Badgers thanks to an overtime-winning goal from rookie
Luke Kutkevicius during Game 2 in St. Catharines.
The Gryphons, who posted a 17-6-5 record during the regular season to finish 3rd in the OUA West, dropped two of their three head-to-head matchups versus Western during the regular season, with each of the three games producing tight games. Western edged Guelph 5-4 back on November 7 at the Gryphon Centre, which was followed by the Gryphons earning a 4-2 win in London later in the month. The third and final regular season meeting saw the Gryphons travel to Budweiser Gardens (home of OHL's London Knights) for a January 30th matchup, which saw the Mustangs escape with a 5-4 victory.
Game 1 between the Gryphons and Mustangs goes Thursday night (Feb. 27) at the Gryphon Centre, with the series shifting back to Western on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 29 – 3pm). If necessary, the Gryphons would host Game 3 on Sunday night (March 1 – 7:30pm).
The other two remaining teams in the OUA are the Concordia Stingers and Ottawa Gee-Gees. Should the Gryphons find a way past Western, the 109th Queen's Cup would be hosted by the Gryphons on Saturday, March 7. A total of three teams from the OUA will qualify for nationals, with the two teams playing in the Queen's Cup getting an automatic bid, while the winner of the OUA bronze medal game rounds out the OUA representation at nationals.
