Box Score London, ON - The Mustangs fought hard against the Gryphons, but the away team took the victory 3-2.
Tonight, your Western Mustangs faced off against the Guelph Gryphons for the fourth time this season. The past three games these two teams had, the Gryphons took the win each time, but tonight the Mustangs hoped to turn that around.
The first period started off with high energy right as the puck dropped as these teams have met before and don't need to spend much time figuring out how the other functions.
Multiple icing calls against the Mustangs during the beginning of the first period caused the play to be put into the Mustangs zone, which gave the Gryphons many scoring opportunities and an ability to dominate the play.
As the period neared the halfway point, the Gryphons opened the scoring of the game. A quick shot from Reese Coffey got through Mustangs goalie, Brooke Vaccari, which moved the score up to 1-0 for the away team.
Shortly after that first goal, another came for the Gryphons as they used this positive momentum in their favour. Hannah Tait from the Gryphons brought her team up to 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the first period of the game.
The Gryphons did not stop there, three minutes after their second goal they put another in the back of the Mustangs net. A bit of a chaotic play in the Mustangs zone led to Katherine Heard to boost the Gryphons up to 3-0.
The Mustangs responded back to this with a rocket shot into the top right corner of the Gryphons net. Four minutes left in the first, Adeline Kristoff put the Mustangs on the board with help from Alyssa Wouda.
The first period ended with a score of 3-1, in favour of the Gryphons.
The second period opened with great back and forth activity between the two teams zones. This action lasted for the entire beginning half of the second period.
The Gryphons had a few solid scoring opportunities during the last half of the period although Vaccari stood strong for the Mustangs and kept the Gryphons at 3 goals with several crucial saves.
The second twenty minutes of the game came to an end with the score remaining 3-1 for the Gryphons.
The last period of the game started much like how the second period had went, with intense action in both zones of the ice. Both teams seemed to be eager to get another goal on the scoreboard yet neither could capitalize on the opportunities they were creating.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Kristoff gets her second goal of the night, almost identical to her first, on a penalty. Another rocket of a shot hit the back of the Gryphons net to tighten the score to 3-2 for the Gryphons.
Head Coach of the Mustangs Candice Moxley speaks on the goal, "I thought Adeline was our best player tonight. She was moving her feet well, she was generating chances and getting a step behind the defence. I was really impressed with her play."
With two minutes left in the third, the Mustangs fought to get another to tie up the game and push into overtime. The team called a timeout and pulled Vacarri, although, they couldn't follow through on getting a third goal and the game ended in favour of the Gryphons, 3-2.
Moxley discusses the first three Guelph goals and how the Mustangs were able to turn the game around, "They were all powerplay goals and it was unfortunate that we were in those situations early on. They were able to get the goals pretty close, back to back, but we made a few adjustments on our penalty kill which allowed us to kill off a few more and not give them anymore goals. It was good to see our girls see that success in the few things we changed."
MUSTANGS GOALS
1st PERIOD- Adeline Kristoff (Alyssa Wouda) at 14:07
3rd PERIOD- Adeline Kristoff (Elizabeth Gauthier & Kennedy Ward) at 6:15
The Mustangs next game will be this Saturday, January 20th, against the Guelph Gryphons once again at 2:30pm, in Guelph. Be sure to check out the live action of that game at OUA.tv.
