GUELPH, Ont. – On Thursday night (Jan. 16) at the Gryphon Centre, the University of Guelph men's hockey team fell to the Western Mustangs in the 8th edition of the annual 'Aggies Night' game, proudly presented by Syngenta Canada Inc. After the Gryphons tied it up at 2-2 on two power play goals in the second period, the Mustangs scored twice with the man advantage in a 19 second span as the visitors regained their two-goal lead in the period en route to a 6-2 win.
 
The start to the Aggies Night game wasn't what the Gryphons envisioned coming off a 5-2 win over the Mustangs on Saturday (Jan. 11). It took Western 45 seconds to score the game's opening goal when Lawson Sherk took the pass on the 2-on-1 and scored to give his side the early 1-0 lead. The beginning of the second period mirrored the start of the game for the Gryphons when Lawson Sherk scored again, beating Tanner Wickware through the five-hole for his second goal of the game to double the lead for the visitors, 81 seconds into the period.
 
Special teams would play a pivotal role for the Gryphons as it helped them get back into the game. With the goalie pulled on the delayed penalty, Tristan De Jong capitalizes for the Gryphs on the 6-on-4 as he wired home the one-timer from Nolan Dann from the top of the faceoff circle to cut the deficit in half at the 8:50 mark of the 2nd. The delayed penalty on the De Jong goal sent the Gryphons back to the power play as they needed only 64 seconds to draw level. Anthony Tabak crashed the net and roofed home the loose puck to tie the game up at 2-2. For Tabak, the Oakville native, the goal was third in as many games against the Mustangs after scoring twice in their win on Saturday (Jan. 11).
 
With momentum on Guelph's side, two consecutive penalties from the Gryphons put them down two players for a full two minutes, 1:02 after they tied it up. The penalties proved to be costly as Franco Sproviero scored twice, 19 seconds apart on the 5-on-3 and the power play as Western restored their two-goal advantage to lead 4-2 after 40 minutes. The Mustangs added two more goals in the third to seal the 6-2 victory to split the season series (1-1) with the Gryphons.
 
The Gryphons with the loss sees their record drop to 10-9 on the season while the Mustangs move to 11-7-1 on the season in a very tightly bunched OUA West division. Guelph returns to action on Saturday night when they travel to Waterloo to battle the Laurier Golden Hawks. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm from Sun Life Financial Arena and the game can be seen live on oua.tv.