A semi-final victory advances Gryphons to Finals
The Guelph Gryphons women’s hockey team defeated their University of Toronto counterparts 2-0 in Game Three of the OUA semi-finals on March 1. The victory gave the Gryphons a 2-1 series win, and a guaranteed appearance in both the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) provincial and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national finals. Guelph has never won the women’s CIS championship (which has only been contested for the past 17 years) and hasn’t won the OUA title since 1997-98.
The number two provincially-ranked Gryphons will face their toughest challenge yet in these playoffs, as they visit the top-ranked Western Mustangs in a one-game OUA final playoff on March 7. Season history favours Western, who won both regular season match-ups against Guelph, with the results of 4-1 and 3-1, respectively. The Mustangs are so far undefeated in these playoffs, with a 4-0 record, sweeping both Nipissing and the defending champion, Laurier.
Guelph swept the Ryerson Rams 2-0 in the first round, but it wasn’t an entirely convincing display. The Gryphons needed three overtime periods to dispose of the seventh-ranked Rams squad, who were competing in their program’s first OUA playoff series.
The second round saw Guelph split their first two games with Toronto, before winning the series in what Interim Head Coach Scott McMillan thought was their most decisive playoff victory yet.
“In every other game before this one, we waited to see what the other team was going to bring and let them dictate to us, and we responded really well,” explained McMillan. “But this was the first game that we really went out and took it to them off the bat.”
It was the first elimination game the Gryphons faced so far this post-season, and with at least two more ahead of them (including the CIS’s new single-elimination format), McMillan was happy with his team’s victory.
“It’s nice to see that when it mattered most, in our elimination game,” McMillan added. “That we were able to come up with that effort.”
Effort seems to be the key for these Gryphons, as Guelph captain Kaitlyn Mora knew it wasn’t going to be an easy climb.
“We knew every game was going to be a [closely contested] win,” the Gryphons forward explained. “So, we just held on tooth-and-nail, and we didn’t let any team outwork us. It came down to work ethic and I think we prevailed.”
Head Coach Rachel Flanagan (currently on maternity leave) added her thoughts on the captain.
“[Mora] has to keep doing what she’s doing,” Flanagan said. “Keep putting the team on her shoulders and carrying them. She’s earned this and she deserves [to go to nationals] so much.”
Helping Mora lead the team through the regular season and playoffs has been Stephanie Nehring, who recorded her first shutout of this post season in the Game Three victory. The OUA final, scheduled for March 7 will be a match-up of the league’s top two goaltenders, as Nehring and the Mustang’s Kelly Campbell have led the league in key statistics during the regular season. Nehring has posted better numbers in the post-season, however, and, after making a couple of key saves in the all-important third period of Game Three on March 1, she could be heating up at just the right time.
With their tickets already booked for the nationals in Calgary (March 12 to 15), Mora knows how her team has to approach the OUA final.
“With the mentality that we only go [to nationals] if we win [on March 7],” the Gryphons captain explained. “I want to go as a champion.”
Mora concedes that the Mustangs are a good team with speedy forwards and good goaltending, but believes the Gryphons’ character will make all the difference.
“They don’t have the heart that we do, [and] that’s where we’re going to kill them.”