Gryphons bounce back with win, will play for 5th

Leigh Shilton, a two-way player for the Gryphons, opened the scoring in the first period when a Dinos defenseman misplayed the puck right onto her stick. She capitalized on the opportunity, pulling Hayley Dowling out of position leaving herself a wide open net.

 

Sarah Astle of the Dinos tied the game mid-way through the second with a slapshot from the point that beat Stephanie Nehring high blocker side, and a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes of play left both sides a shot at extending their season by one more game.

 

Guelph's Kaitlyn Mora broke the tie on the power play just five minutes into the final stanza, when she fired a backhand shot in close upstairs past Dowling.

 

The Gryphons stole the game just past the mid-way mark of the third period. Katherine Bailey fired a low shot from the point that just trickled over the line after squeezing through Dowling's five-hole. Shilton added an insurance marker in the third, scoring Guelph's fourth goal.

 

"We just wanted to keep going, we felt like we got off of our a game a little bit there in the second. Allowed them to hem us in, we had to get to playing the way we can, moving the puck and getting it into there end more, explained Guelph's head coach, Scott McMillan. "We were able to hold a lead today which was nice."

 

Calgary made several attempts at coming back in the third period, pulling Dowling for an extra attacker with five minutes remaining after Jessyka Holt cut the Gryphons' lead to two. Nehring held her own, shutting down any opportunity the Dinos had in front.

 

The loss was a disappointing end to the Dinos' season.

 

"We started really well, we were all over them; they didn't have a lot of opportunities in the first or second," explained Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette. "Again I think we beat ourselves today. I don't think they out played us but mentally we couldn't come back. We need to learn something about this exit, of course we didn't plan to be done this early, it's disappointing."

 

Nehring turned away 31 shots for the Gryphons to earn the victory, while Dowling made 16 saves in a losing cause. Astle and Shilton earned the respective player-of-the-game honours for their teams.

 

"Nehring was fantastic," said McMillan. "First in the OUA in goals-against-average, second in the OUA in save percentage, she's been a rock all year. We limited the quality of chances today giving her a chance to make the saves that she did today."

 

Guelph will face the winner of the other consolation semi-final for fifth place Sunday morning at 11 a.m. MT (1 p.m. ET), live on www.cis-sic.tv.