February 24, 2017

Lions advance to OUA West final with big win over Gryphons

The York University Lions men's hockey team scored five times in the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Thursday night in Game 2 of their OUA West semifinal series at Gryphon Centre Arena.

Guelph

York

Final	1	2	3	T
Guelph	0	0	2	2
York	0	5	1	6

The York University Lions men's hockey team scored five times in the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Thursday night in Game 2 of their OUA West semifinal series at Gryphon Centre Arena.

The win gives the Lions their second straight series sweep and moves them into the OUA West finals next week.

The Gryphons dominated play for much of the first period, outshooting the Lions 12-7, but York rookie goaltender Mack Shields (Saskatoon, Sask.) was tremendous between the pipes to keep every shot out of the net and the game remained scoreless after one.

The Lions wasted little time breaking the deadlock in the second period as Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.) tapped in a Bryce Milson (Miramichi, N.B.) pass on the power play to give the Lions a 1-0 lead just 1:27 into the frame.

After that first goal the floodgates opened as the Lions would add four more before the next intermission to all but put the game away.

Dexter Bricker (Saskatoon, Sask.) made it 2-0 less than two minutes after Milner's opener when he found himself all alone in front of the net and tucked away a rebound off the pad of Guelph goaltender Scott Stajcer.

With five minutes remaining in the period, Steven Janes (Etobicoke, Ont.) made no mistake, scoring his first of the playoffs to give the Lions a 3-0 advantage.

The Gryphons fell apart after that goal, putting themselves in some serious penalty trouble. Two calls at the same time gave the Lions a full two-minute 5-on-3 advantage and they capitalized early as Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) fired a laser of a shot that went straight to the back of the net less than 30 seconds into the power play to make it 4-0.

Just minutes later the Lions were awarded another 5-on-3 advantage and they again made the Gryphons pay for their mistakes as Daniel Nikandrov (Richmond Hill, Ont.) padded the Lions lead and they carried the 5-0 score into the third period.

The Gryphons finally got on the board at 6:29 of the final frame on a power play goal by Cody Thompson, but Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) scored just over two minutes later to restore the five-goal advantage.

Guelph added another at 12:42 by Manny Gialedakis but that was as close as they would get. Shields finished the game with 32 saves and has now gone six straight games without allowing more than two goals. Stajcer made 25 saves in the loss.

The Lions will now wait to see who their opponent will be in the OUA West final next week, with the Ryerson Rams and Windsor Lancers battling in the other semifinal. The full schedule for the next series will be announced on Sunday