Down 1-0 in the series and facing elimination at the hands of the Waterloo Warriors, it was clear to see that the Guelph Gryphons were a desperate team. On Thursday night, it was clear that they played desperate, too.

Carlos Amestoy's 2^nd-period goal held up as the game winner, and Andrew D'Agostini made 30 saves to help lift the Gryphons to a 3-2 victory over the Warriors in game 2 of the best-of-three OUA West division quarterfinal on Thursday night in Guelph.

Nick Trecapelli and Seth Swenson also scored for the Gryphons, who forced a third and decisive game with the Warriors on Sunday night in Waterloo. Colin Behenna (Waterloo) and Mike Moffat (Waterloo) found twine for the Warriors in a losing cause, although Moffat's goal was credited to Andrew Smith (Kitchener).

Amestoy added a helper for a two-point night, while Moffat added an assist for his own multi-point evening. Mike Morrison (Hamilton) was excellent when called upon in the Warriors net, turning aside 31 shots in the loss.

If the Gryphons' goal was to come out of the gates with urgency and get an early lead, their strategy was extremely successful – just over 9 minutes in to the game, Trecapelli picked up a loose puck in the slot, dragged, and fired it past Morrison's glove hand to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Guelph doubled their lead with time ticking down in both a man advantage and the opening frame, when Swenson neatly deflected a Teal Burns wrister up and over Morrison to give the Gryphons a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The Warriors cut the deficit in half on a second-period power play when Behenna's shot squeaked under the right pad of D'Agostini, making it 2-1 for Guelph. But with the game less than 30 minutes old, tempers once again boiled over between the two rivals after a strange sequence.

On a delayed penalty call to Phillip Fife (Oromocto), D'Agostini fled for the bench for the extra attacker, only to slam into Kain Allicock (Markham) who was pursuing the play on the forecheck. The 5'11" keeper unsurprisingly took the worst of the collision with the 6'5" Allicock, and the Gryphons took exception. When the dust settled, three players had been assessed 10-minute misconducts, and the Warriors went back to the penalty kill.

They held the Gryphons off the board on the advantage, but seconds after the Warriors were back to full strength, Amestoy cut in and roofed a backhander to restore the Guelph two-goal lead. At the conclusion of the second period, the Warriors trailed 3-1.

The third period was undisputedly Waterloo's best of the night, as they pushed the Gryphons to get back into the game. The pressure paid off with just under 5 minutes to play, when a Moffat point shot was tipped in by Smith to make it 3-2.  But even with the extra attacker on in the final minute, the Warriors couldn't find the equalizer, and the Gryphons hung on for the victory.

The Guelph win sets up a winner-take-all game three on Sunday night in Waterloo. Puck drop is slated for 6:30 at the Columbia Icefield Arena.

Notes: Waterloo went 1-for-4 on the power play, while Guelph went 1-fo-6…Waterloo's infirmary continued to include captain Joe Underwood (Canton), forwards Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte) and Chris Chappell (Pickering), and goaltender Chris Hurry (Summerland)…The home team has now won the last seven matchups between these two clubs.