HALIFAX, N.S. - Make the playoffs, check. Win the OUA West, check. Hoist the 109th Queen's Cup, check. Now just one thing remains on the Guelph Gryphon's list for the 2019-20 season.
Just days after defeating the Ottawa Gee-Gees 2-1 in a triple overtime Queen's Cup thriller, the Gryphons now head to Halifax looking to add to their hardware tally at the 2020 U SPORTS University Cup and check off their final goal of the season, a national gold medal.
U SPORTS University Cup Quarter-Final
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2020
Time: 6pm (ET)
Location: Scotiabank Centre - Halifax, N.S.
Teams: No. 3 Guelph Gryphons vs No. 6 St. Mary's Huskies
Online Broadcast: CBCSports.ca
Seeking the second national gold medal in the program's history, Guelph will enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed, and OUA champions.
Looking to replicate the performance of the 1996-97 Guelph Gryphons who brought home a gold medal from the event, this year's team will first have to deal with the No. 6 seeded St. Mary's Huskies.
Taking on the AUS bronze medalists, the Gryphons will hit the ice Thursday night at 6:00pm to battle the Huskies.
"The guys are very excited to be here and for the opportunity to take on a good St. Mary's team," said Gryphon's head coach Shawn Camp. "The Huskies are big physically, with a high-scoring offence. Their defence are big too, and they receive good goaltending as well. They'll be a strong opponent, but we are looking forward to the challenge."
Entering the national quarter-final, the Huskies come in as one of the few teams across Canada that can compare with the tremendous offensive production from the Gryphons this season. Finishing fifth in the country in goals per game with 3.87, St. Mary's was just two sports behind the Gryphons who were third with 4.54 goals per game.
With the strong offensive production from the Huskies, Guelph will likely lean on 3rd-year goalie Andrew Masters during the game. Fortunately for the Gryphs, Masters is coming off the one of, if not the best best performance of his career making 51 saves on 52 Gee-Gee's shots in the Gryphon's Queen's Cup victory.
"We have gotten tremendous stops from both of our goalies all year long, and Masters has been especially good these last few playoff games," said Camp. "That will be the kind of goaltending we will need to try and win at nationals."
Hoping to keep their goalie from having to make too many stops, Guelph will continue to use their depth in an effort to keep the puck out of their own end and deep in the opposing zone. After fighting the injury bug during their OUA playoff run, Coach Camp is more than thrilled to know they will have nearly a full compliment of guys to rotate through during their game against the Huskies.
"Despite the adversity that we have gone through, our guys have done a great job of staying focused on only the game ahead," Camp said. "Regardless of who has been in the line-up, everyone has done a great job of stepping up."
Having led the way on offence all season long, do not be surprised to see the likes of Todd Winder, Ryan Valentini and Marc Stevens continue to take charge for the Gryphons.
Named to the 2019-20 OUA West All-Rookie Team, local product Giordano Finoro will also provide a threat for any opponent to have to deal with.
Defensively for Guelph, Stephen Templeton led all Gryphon blue-liners in the playoffs in points with seven. Along with the minute-eating pairing of Justin Lemcke and Jesse Saban, veteran Zach McFadden, promising freshman Cole Cameron and the return of Matthew Timms, Guelph's defensive core certainly proves capable of holding it's own.
After dropping their national quarter-final last season to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Gryphons will look to avenge that loss on Thursday, much like they just avenged last season's Queen's Cup defeat.
The winner of Thursday evening's match will move on to the U SPORTS semi-finals against the winner of the Saskatchewan Huskies and Western Mustangs.
"Anything is possible," Camp said.
"Even though we are such a young group that features twelve rookies, together as a hockey family, anything becomes possible if you believe. This team has done that throughout the adversity of the season and the playoffs, and will continue to do so in Halifax."
