THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team opened their 2025-26 regular season in impressive fashion, with a pair of road wins over the Lakehead Thunderwolves in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Game 1 (Friday, Oct. 3, 2025 | Guelph 5 @ Lakehead 2)
The Gryphons officially dropped the puck on their 2025-26 OUA regular season schedule on Friday night (Oct. 3) from Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Three unanswered goals in the third period by the Gryphons allowed propelled Guelph to a 5-2 season-opening road victory in what was a chippy affair which saw both teams combine for 113 total penalty minutes. The Gryphons got out to an early lead at the 5:33 mark in the opening period when
Dylan Hudon was in the right place at the right time to
get to the loose puck and find the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead. Lakehead would tie the game up later in the period, taking advantage of Guelph penalty trouble and scoring on a 5-on-3. The Gryphs in the 2nd period would return the favour on the man advantage as
Griffin Wilson scored from in tight to put the visitors ahead 2-1. After the Thunderwolves tied it to make it 2-2 in the third period, the Gryphons would answer once again just :67 seconds later when
Chase Lammi stripped the puck in the neutral zone to start the rush and made a perfect pass to
Kaeden Johnston who went high gloveside to give Guelph the lead. The Gryphon lead would double :28 seconds later when Jack Wismer
scored on a breakaway for his first Gryphon goal to make it 4-2.
Anthony Tabak would add another one on the power play at the 8:59 mark of the 3rd as he was able to
find an opening short side to seal the 5-2 road win for Guelph. Gryphons first-year goalie,
Olivier Ciarlo, making his first career OUA start, impressed in the victory, stopping 30 of the 32 shots sent his way for his first career OUA win.
Dylan Hudon and
Griffin Wilson each had a goal and an assist in the win.
Game 2 (Saturday, Oct. 5, 2025 | Guelph 3 @ Lakehead 2)
24 hours after the season-opener, the Gryphons and Thunderwolves were back at it again on Saturday night (Oct. 4) in Thunder Bay. Gryphons third-year forward,
Nolan Forster (Cambridge, ON), would score the game-winner midway through the 3rd period to give the Gryphons a 3-2 win to complete the rare road sweep of Lakehead in one of the toughest road venues in OUA men's hockey. The Gryphons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game with goals from
Chase Lammi and
Anthony Tabak. Lakehead battled back to tie the game at 2-2 before
Nolan Forster's game-winner in the 3rd capped a memorable road trip for the Gryphons. U of G rookie goalie,
Olivier Ciarlo (Laval, QC), got the start in between the pipes for a second consecutive night and was once again impressive, making 29 saves on the night to lead his team to a second consecutive victory to start league play. The Gryphons (2-0-0) will now return home to face the Waterloo Warriors on Thursday, Oct. 9 in the team's home opener.
