Guelph beats Laurier at School Day Game
WATERLOO, Ont. (December 3, 2015) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s hockey team suffered a 5-3 loss at the hands of the defending Queen’s Cup Champions, the Guelph Gryphons, at their third annual School Day Hockey game hosted on Thursday afternoon at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.
WATERLOO, Ont. (December 3, 2015) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team suffered a 5-3 loss at the hands of the defending Queen's Cup Champions, the Guelph Gryphons, at their third annual School Day Hockey game hosted on Thursday afternoon at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.
Playing in front of 2993 fans, the Gryphons scored a powerplay goal midway through the third period to break a 3-3 tie before icing the game with an empty net marker to pick up their third consecutive victory.
On a day in which the Golden Hawks were also hosting their annual Teddy Bear Toss game, it was Laurier that came out strong as they looked to break the ice early and send the teddy bears flying. They were successful just before the 14 minute marker when rookie forward Will Cook of Port Stanley, Ont., broke into the slot on a powerplay and beat reigning CIS Athlete of th e Week Andrew D'Agostini of Scarborough, Ont., on the blocker side. That goal sent hundreds of bears flying onto the ice and gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The second period was a different story for the purple and gold as Guelph stepped up their game were able to fire three pucks past Laurier starter Colin Furlong of Cambridge, Ont. Reilly O'Connor of Penticton, B.C., Thomas Kohler of St. Thomas, Ont., and Carlos Amestroy of Toronto all found the back of the net to stake the visitors to a 3-1 advantage after two periods of play.
However, the Hawks were not dismayed and rallied early in the second period. First, Matt Dupont of Milton, Ont., scored his second goal in as many games to pull the purple and gold to within one. Then, less than three minutes later, Matthew Franczyk of Winnipeg, evened up the score when he blasted home a point shot on the powerplay.
The tie would be short lived though as four minutes later, on a powerplay of their own, Dyan Gilbert of Oakville, Ont., converted a feed from Robert De Fulviis of Toronto, to restore the Gryphons lead.
Late in the contest, the Hawks pulled Furlong to try to tie the contest and despite the urging of the thousands of fans in attendance, they were unsuccessful as an empty net tally from Scott Simmonds of Uxbridge, Ont., iced the game.
De Fulviis proved to be the difference maker for Guelph on the afternoon as he finished the game with four assists.
For the Hawks, Franczyk, as well as Christian Mroczkowski of Wellesley, Ont., each had two points on the day to lead Laurier.
In goal, D'Agostini picked up the victory as he stopped 37 shots while Furlong took the loss, allowing four goals on 43 shots.
The loss drops Laurier to 6-9-0 on the season and they remain in ninth place in the OUA West division. As for Guelph, they improve to 10-6-0 and move into a tie for second place in the division.
The Hawks will look to bounce b ack on Friday night in their final game of 2015 when they head to Toronto to take on the No. 10 York Lions. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv.
Source: Laurier Golden Hawks
