When Waterloo Warriors defenceman Mike Moffat (Waterloo) flies to Almaty, Kazakhstan next week to represent Canada at the FISU World University Games, he'll have one less piece of luggage to check at the airport: the monkey that was on his back.

Moffat scored his first goal of the season on a power play in double overtime, lifting the Warriors to a huge 4-3 victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday night.

The victory, coupled with Western's loss to the Toronto Varsity Blues, helped give Waterloo some more breathing room in the tight OUA West playoff race – the Warriors moved to 8-11-3, and their 19 points puts them five points up on Western for the eighth and final playoff spot in the division.

Zac Coulter (Owen Sound) continued his outstanding rookie campaign with two assists, while defenceman-turned-forward Eric Diodati (Niagara Falls) added two helpers of his own in his season debut on the wing. Waterloo also got goals from Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) and Cole Murphy (Cole Harbour), while Nick Halagian (St. Catharines) scored the massive equalizing tally late in the third period.

The game also marked the comeback of defenceman Adam Bignell (Kitchener), who returned to action after missing over a year with concussion issues. Bignell, the former Belleville Bulls veteran, helped solidify an already experience-rich Warriors blue line for the stretch run.

The Warriors dominated on the shot clock, outshooting the Gryphons 54-28 on the night, and 10-1 in the two extra sessions. Guelph got goals from Josh McFadden, Scott Simmonds, and Anders Kopstals, while Keith Hamilton made 50 saves in a losing effort. Mike Morrison (Hamilton) earned the win between the Waterloo pipes with 25 stops.

The Gryphons got on the board first just over two minutes in, when McFadden ripped home a slapshot from the half-boards to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. And while the Warriors surged ahead with pressure, they couldn't crack Hamilton through most of the next two periods – the score remained 1-0 for Guelph through the first and well into the second.

However, with just over two minutes to play in the middle stanza, Sonnenburg equalized to make the score 1-1 after 40 minutes. The Warriors kept the momentum through the intermission break, as Murphy scored on the power play to give Waterloo their first lead of the night just past the five-minute mark of the third.

Murphy's tally kickstarted a wild back-and-forth third period. First, Simmonds tipped home a goal on the doorstep midway through the period to make it 2-2, and Kopstals took advantage of a Waterloo turnover to give Guelph a 3-2 lead with under 8 minutes remaining.

But the Warriors were relentless in their efforts to tie the score, and they were rewarded with 4:39 to play in regulation when Halagian found himself with time, space, and more importantly, the puck in the high slot. Halagian took two strides and fired a shot past Hamilton to knot things at 3-3, and send the game to overtime.

The Warriors were stymied on a man-advantage in the first 4-on-4 overtime period, but Guelph's Mac Nichol took another Guelph penalty for goaltender interference in the second OT session. This time, the Warriors cashed in, as Moffat let fire with a wicked wrister that gave Waterloo a 4-3 win.

The Warriors will now look ahead to their final two interdivisional matchups of the season, when they hit the road to travel to Kingston and Ottawa next weekend. First, the Warriors will visit the RMC Paladins on Friday, January 27, before taking on the Carleton Ravens on Saturday, January 28. Both games are slated for 7pm.