Guelph falls 2-1 to division rival York.
The Guelph Gryphons couldn’t come out with a win in their Frost Mug homecoming game versus the York Lions on Friday Jan. 17, falling 2-1.
The annual winter homecoming festivities were held at the Sleeman Centre, home of the Guelph Storm OHL team, in downtown Guelph.
Despite playing in front of over 2,500 fans and outshooting the Lions 30-19, the Gryphons couldn’t muster up a late winner and dropped their third game in the past four to fall to sixth in the OUA West, one point ahead of York, who has a game in hand.
An early chance at goal for the Lions by Sam Gilbert rebounded off Guelph goaltender Andrew Loverock’s pad, and the subsequent shot rang off the post and out, keeping it scoreless in a period that featured poor puck possession for both sides.
Back-to-back penalties, both by York, and both high sticking, provided Guelph with a 5-on-3 advantage. Freshman Teal Burns passed to senior Kenneth Peroff, who put the puck in the net from just outside the crease to make it 1-0 Gryphons.
The power play proved to be an important aspect of each team’s successes on the night. York started off the second period on the power play, and a shot from the point by Mike Lombardi tied the game up at 1-1.
The Lions outshot the Gryphons 8-7 in the second period; however, it was Guelph’s Nicklas Huard who broke through the neutral zone with a chance on net that was deflected off the skate of a York defender, forcing the puck wide.
Guelph, starting the third on another power play, really brought the pressure on Lion’s goaltender Chris Perugini, but the King City native stood strong between the pipes.
As Guelph’s powerplay came to an end, a turnover provided York with a breakaway that saw Even Gravenor barrel down on Loverock before uncorking a slap shot from the top of the circle, which caused a big rebound off the pads of Loverock. Gravenor collected his own rebound, circled the back of the net, and passed in front of the crease to Chad Hohmann, who made no mistake with the little pressure he received and buried York’s second goal of the night to make the score 2-1.
Guelph played a hard and fast game that didn’t just provide action in front of the net but also on the defensive side of the puck with huge hits that brought the red, black, and gold crowd to its feet on multiple occasions.
Guelph was unable to capitalize on any further opportunities and ultimately lost to York by one.
Guelph (9-8-4) has 22 points on the year, and only two points separates Guelph from 9th place Waterloo Warriors (9-9-2), who have 20 points and a game in hand on the Gryphons.
The Gryphons next home game is versus the OUA’s third place Western Mustangs on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Gryphon Centre.
With just seven games left for the Gryphons – four against teams that sit within two points of Guelph in either direction – Guelph is going to need to improve on their new year record of 2-2-2 in order to achieve a home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.