THOROLD, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team saw their postseason hopes come to an end on Thursday night (Feb. 13) at Canada Games Park in Thorold after suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the Brock Badgers. The Gryphons were able to claw back to tie the game up twice to send the game into overtime to earn an important point, but fell short when Zack Stringer scored the overtime winner for the Badgers. With one game remaining for both teams, the overtime point wasn't enough for the Gryphons sitting at 25 points as the bonus point from Brock with the overtime win moved them to the sixth place in the OUA West division with 28 points, officially eliminating Guelph from the 2025 OUA men's hockey playoffs.
Both the Gryphons and Badgers entered Thursday night in the hunt for the final OUA West playoff spot playing in their 27th game of the 28-game regular season schedule. It would be the hosts who would get on the board first when Zander Stewart scored from the point to give Brock the 1-0 lead in the 1st period. Guelph answered back :58 seconds into 2nd period as
Anthony Tabak made a nifty backhand pass that found the stick of
Nolan Forster, who
popped in the game-tying goal into the open net on the man advantage. Brock would regain their one goal advantage later in the 2nd period on a goal from Jordan Stock that gave the Badgers a 2-1 lead.
The Gryphons would apply plenty of pressure on the Brock net to close out the period but were unable to find the equalizer as they head into the 3rd period facing an one goal deficit.
With the Gryphons needing a goal in the 3rd, they would find the breakthrough at the six-minute mark of the period as it would be fourth-year forward
Jacob Winterton who would come through for Guelph. With plenty of time and space from his right side,
Winterton elected to shoot with numbers in his favour and was able to find the top corner of the net to score his 7th goal of the season and tie the game up at 2-2. There was not much separating either side throughout the night as the margins were razor thin with both teams pushing for the go-ahead goal in 3rd. The Gryphons had the best opportunity at the end of the period with the man advantage but were unable to win it in regulation, sending this game to overtime.
Thursday night's game with Brock marked the first time all season that the Gryphons saw a game reach overtime. The 3-on-3 overtime period had its moments with both teams having their opportunity to end the game to pick up the valuable extra point. Unfortunately for the Gryphons, it would be the Badgers who ended up scoring the deciding goal when Zack Stringer was sprung free on a breakaway and was able to freeze
Cal Schell on the forehand before sliding the puck just past his left pad on the backhand and into the net to end the game, as the Gryphons fell to the Badgers 3-2, eliminating Guelph from playoff contention.
The Gryphons (12-14-1) will officially wrap up their 2024-25 season on Saturday night (Feb. 15) when they host the No. 8-ranked team in the country in the Ottawa Gee-Gees (17-6-3). Puck drop at the Gryphon Centre Arena is set for 7:30pm on Saturday night, where the Gryphons will honour their graduating seniors before the game.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.gryphons.ca/tickets, with the game
streamed live online at www.oua.tv.
