GUELPH, Ont. – On Wednesday night (Nov. 16) the Gryphon women's hockey team exercised their demons from earlier this season and left the ice with a win after entering extra time. Coming into their matchup with the Brock Badgers the Gryphons had not been able to get the job done when entering overtime or a shootout in the 2022-23 regular season. That all changed when they took down the visiting Badgers 4-3 in a shootout victory at the Gryphon Centre Arena.
 
The Gryphons had their work cut out for them in this one, having to come back from an early deficit to defeat the very team that ended their season just under nine months ago. The Badgers came out hot, scoring just 6:01 into the game to open the scoring. Just two minutes later the Gryphons would find themselves down a skater and killing a penalty, squashing any attempt at an immediate response. With under 4 minutes to play in the opening frame Brock would extend their lead to 2-0 and then 3-0 just 1:31 later. Heading into the locker room the Gryphons would find themselves in a 3-0 hole.
 
 "We can definitely win this game," said assistant captain Rylee Davison in her intermission interview with Scott Fraser. Davison returned to the Gryphon bench for the first time in the 2022-23 season and provided some leadership and a veteran presence to the Gryphons on Wednesday night. The Gryphons came out of the locker room on the power play and while they were not able to capitalize it provided the momentum to get the Gryphons on the board. 6:25 into the second period Jaime Magoffin would find the loose puck behind Badger goaltender Kenzie Harmison to cut the Brock lead to just two.
 
The third frame would see both teams have chances on the powerplay but come up empty handed. After trading scoring chances and possessions Tori Verbeek would break into the offensive zone, streak towards the net and beat the goalie glove-side with a beautiful back-handed shot to cut the deficit in half with under four minutes remaining in regulation. Less than two minutes later Jaime Magoffin would bury her second of the game when she put a Meaghan Chittick rebound into the back of the net, making this one all square at 3.
 
Regulation would come to an end and extra time would be needed to decide the winner. After a couple of Gryphon chances, they would find themselves on their back foot, killing a penalty for most of the overtime period. With little time remaining after the penalty kill the Badgers and Gryphons would head to a shootout. Goaltenders Martina Fedel and Kenzie Harmison would both put on strong shootout performances, going five rounds with no goals before Chihiro Suzuki would score to give the Gryphons the 4-3 win.
 
The Gryphons (5-2-2) will look to make it three in a row when they welcome the Waterloo Warriors back to Guelph on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 7:30pm and fans unable to attend can catch the game at www.oua.tv.