Historic season for Gryphons comes to end dramatic fashion
This historic season for Guelph, one that saw the women go an OUA best 21-3-0, including a 12-game winning streak, came to an end in the third and final game of the OUA semi finals with a 2-1 loss to the Queen’s Gaels. The series ended in Guelph at the Gryphon Centre in what ended up being a defensive clinic by both of the OUA’s premier teams.
The Gaels opened up the scoring in the second period after holding puck possession for most of the frame. Clare McKellar broke through the Gryphons defense, which sent her on a breakaway. McKellar made good on her opportunity and fired a shot from just outside the crease that went top corner to make it 1-0 Queen’s.
The Gael’s Taryn Pilon also found herself on a breakaway, due in part to another Guelph defensive miscue, and buried her shot from the slot to put Queen’s up two.
Guelph came out strong on the third period, and a power play goal by Kaitlyn Mora brought Guelph within one goal. The pressure from the red, black, and gold continued relentlessly in the final period, but even with the Gryphons goaltender, Stephanie Nehring, getting pulled in the final minute of play, an equalizing goal was not in the cards.
The last OUA title for Guelph was in 1998, and before that it was in 1995 under the captaincy of Canadian hockey legend, Christine Sinclair.
This season had all the ingredients to be a Cinderella story for the Gryphons. The OUA-best record, as well as the league’s leading scorer and best goalie made Guelph the team to beat on paper. Then there was the “Fight for Kevin” initiative that brought not just the women’s and men’s hockey team closer together, but galvanized an entire campus to raise awareness for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer – a sickness that infected, and eventually led to the passing of, 14 year-old Kevin Siddall, brother of Guelph’s fourth year goalie, Brooke Siddall.
While the women did come up short of their goal, creating building blocks for sustained success is how schools win championships, and Guelph has certainly been able to achieve that.
Forward Jessica Pinkerton, first in goals (16) is a junior; while Sophomores Christine Grant, is ninth in goals (13); Amanda Parkins, twenty-eight in goals (8); and Averi Nooren, thirty-seventh in goals (7). This is important for Guelph, as its top four goal scorers plus junior goalie Nehring, first in wins (19), are all likely to return to the lineup.
Congratulations on the season, Gryphons, and thank-you for reminding us of the power of community and the importance of fighting through challenges as a team.