Balanced Scoring Leads Gryphons Over McMaster

It’s been a good week for Critch, Knight and Burke, all of whom were picked up in the National Lacrosse League draft on Monday night; Knight was chosen 8th overall, Critch 16th and Burke 28th.

Rounding out the scoring for Guelph were Garrett Williams (Oshawa, ON), Connor Deuchars (Toronto, ON), Jordan Costa (Mississauga, ON), Taylor Brown (Peterborough, ON), Andrew Stoner (Orangeville, ON) Joe Wasson (Peterborough, ON) and Joe Lalonde (Ottawa, ON) who scored his first goal as a Gryphon.   Paul Forster (Toronto, ON) and longstick Nick Vangalen (Orangeville, ON) each had an assist.

Vangalen’s assist came as part of a spectacular play late in the first half.  With time winding down inside 15 seconds, goaltender Jeremy Snider (Kitchener, ON) made a great save on a bounce shot and quickly moved the ball forward to a fast-breaking Vangalen.  With less than 10 seconds to go, Vangalen fired a 30 yard pass to attackman Jordan Daradick who made a strong cut to get free of his defender, leapt in the air to catch the pass, turned and fired a 15 yard laser to the top right corner with less than a second on the clock.

The goal was the 8th of the quarter for Guelph, their 11th in the half and gave the Gryphons an 11-2 lead into the third quarter.  Early in the third, Connor Danko (Pelham, ON) made several key saves in net for Guelph and he made a goal-saving big hit on a McMaster attackman.  For his efforts, Danko was awarded Guelph’s player of the game.

However, penalties plagued the Gryphons midway through the quarter as Guelph committed 6 infractions in a row.  McMaster capitalized on 3 of their chances, pulling themselves to within 10 goals of the Gryphons.   Guelph’s undisciplined play continued into the fourth quarter as the team took another 8 penalties.  McMaster could only capitalized on one of their power plays opportunities in the final frame as longstick defensemen Jeff Sehl (Caledon East, ON), Kris Leblanc (Oakville, ON), Spencer Fraser-Steinbach (Guelph, ON) and DJ Nedelko (Hamilton, ON), backed by Danko  in the pipes, did a great job killing penalties in the fourth.

Article courtesy of Guelph Athletics.