GUELPH, Ont. – It may have only been the fourth game of the regular season for both teams, but it felt like there was far more on the line Saturday night at the Gryphon Centre than just two points when the No. 10-nationally ranked Western Mustangs and the Guelph Gryphons squared off.
Recovering from a two-goal deficit, the Gryphons sent their faithful crowd home happy with a come from behind 5-3 victory over the visitors from London.
"It felt play a playoff game tonight actually," Gryphon's Head Coach
Shawn Camp said. "The intensity was there all night with battles at the net and at the blue line. It was another great game between two teams with a wicked rivalry."
For the second straight game, the Gryphons entered the third period in a tied hockey game before scoring twice in the final frame on their way to victory. This time around, it was a howitzer of a slap shot from
Liam Ham and an empty-netter from
Giordano Finoro that pulled Guelph away from Western in the third and secured their second win of the season.
Having to deal with numerous early season injuries between the pipes, Camp turned to freshman netminder
Colton Incze, who made his first career OUA start for the Gryphs.
While trying to calm the inevitable early game nerves of a debut, Incze received a nice gift from his team early in the game. Setting up the offensive zone, the Gryphons began applying pressure to Western. Then with the puck on
Connor Bramwell's stick, he spun a 360 before putting a pass right on the tape of
Lucas Chiodo at the back post and he slid the puck past Mustang's goalie Dylan Myskiw putting Guelph out in front 1-0.
Unfortunately for the Gryphons, the lead was very short lived. Less than two minutes later the Mustangs got back on equal terms with a goal from Michael Boushy. Tied 1-1 towards the end of the opening frame, the Gryphons were called for a penalty, which led to Western taking their first lead of the contest on the ensuing power-play.
Trailing 2-1 after one period of play, the deficit got worse before it got better in the middle frame. The period wasn't even four minutes old when Western added to their lead thanks to Reed Morison depositing a rebound from the top of the crease. From then on out though, the momentum began to swing back into Guelph's favour.
After establishing some time in the offensive zone, the Gryphons were able to take advantage just shy of the midway point of the period. Following up a tremendous rookie season in 2019/20, local product
Giordano Finoro tallied his first goal of the new season after receiving a beautiful pass from defenceman
Jaxon Camp. Back within one, the Gryphons continued to buzz. A little over two minutes later, albeit short-handed, Guelph found the equalizer. Charging into the offensive zone with numbers on their side, a shot from
Connor Bramwell was turned aside, but sitting on the doorstep, 109
th Queen's Cup hero,
Ted Nichol slammed home the loose puck to tie the game 3-3 heading to the third.
Although it took awhile for either side to regain a lead, it was ultimately
Liam Ham putting the Gryphons out in front with only 2:18 to go in regulation.
"It's been a good week for us," Camp said. "We are talking about the process of getting better and you can see it happening. We're taking baby steps because we had such a short pre-season, there is still a lot of teaching early in the season."
"It's going to continue to be a process for us as we grind through the early part of the season, but the guys are so young and they're learning which has really been fun to watch."
Getting the victory in his first OUA start, Incze recorded 25 saves on 28 shots.
On the scoresheet, Bramwell had a tremendous evening tallying four assists on the five Gryphon goals. Meanwhile,
Jaxon Camp recorded a pair of assists for the Gryphs.
Guelph will now have a lengthy in-season break. The Gryphons will be off until November 25
th when they play host to the Waterloo Warriors at the Gryphon Centre.
