GUELPH, Ont. - It was Aggies Night on Saturday afternoon (March 12) at the Gryphon Centre. The 5th annual celebration of the University's Ontario Agricultural College, Canada's largest and most renowned agricultural college, saw many Aggie students in the crowd to support the home team. The Gryphons, donning their "Aggies" jerseys, faced off against the Windsor Lancers, continuing to make a push to snag a spot in the OUA Playoffs. It was a hard-fought matinee matchup, that saw its fair share of penalties and emotion. The Gryphons, fueled by the energy of the Aggie crowd, were able to fight back twice to tie the game up, and for the third straight game, the Gryphons would earn a point by forcing overtime, but ultimately, they would fall short to the 1st-place Lancers, mathematically eliminating the defending Queen's Cup champion Gryphons from the 2022 OUA men's hockey playoffs.
The Gryphons came out with a lot of jump in the first period, producing numerous strong scoring chances in the early minutes of the game. However, the Lancers would jump ahead first with a power play goal. Anthony Stefano sent the puck off the end boards and right on the tape of Mel Melconian, who finished off the play to put the Lancers up 1-0. The Gryphons responded soon after, the Aggie crowd getting to their feet, as one of their own,
Cole Cameron, a food and agricultural business major, found a lane through traffic to beat Windsor netminder Nathan Torchia.
After scoring the equalizer, the Aggies got a nice salute from
Cole Cameron as he showed his appreciation for the support from his classmates. The two sides would remain tied at 1 heading into the second period.
The second period did not start out how the Gryphons wanted as a Windsor odd man rush just :39 seconds into the period saw Brady Pataki finish off a nice passing play. The Gryphons were going to have to fight their way back into the game once again in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. The rest of the second period saw a series of penalties, as the teams started to show some emotion, looking to battle their way to a win. The Gryphons, with multiple power play opportunities, continued to test the Windsor goalie, who faced 32 Gryphon shots in the game, but still trailed 2-1 heading to the final period.
The Gryphons maintained their pressure to open up the third period. Hungry forechecking and quick puck movement was opening up a lot of opportunity for the Gryphons, making it seem like the equalizing goal was going to come at any time.
With around five minutes remaining in regulation, the Gryphons finally found a breakthrough, when a hard forecheck led to Luke Kutcevicius finding leading scorer,
Connor Bramwell in the slot. Bramwell showed great vision, spotting
Ted McGeen backdoor who was able to slide it past the Windsor netminder to tie the game up at 2-2. The last five minutes of the game saw the teams trade chances, but neither side could pull away before the end of regulation time, which meant they would need overtime to decide it.
The 3 on 3 overtime period, as always, was full of excitement. The Gryphons showed good patience and speed on multiple rushes, in attempt to put home the game winner. Unfortunately, the Lancers were the ones who ended up scoring the deciding goal when a broken play led to Anthony Stefano with the puck in front of the Gryphons net, he would slide it five-hole to end the game, as the Gryphons fell 3-2 to the visiting Lancers, eliminating them from playoff contention.
The Gryphons will officially wrap up their 2021-22 season on Sunday afternoon (March 13) when they host the Lancers once again at the Gryphon Centre. The Gryphons will honour their three graduating seniors prior to puck drop, with
Connor Bramwell,
Andrew Dodson and
Gabe Mollot-Hill all set to lace up their skates for the final time as Gryphons.
