The Waterloo Warriors men's hockey team put forth a gutsy effort against the division's top team on Thursday night, but a back-breaking power play goal late in the second period turned the tables on the black and gold.
Trevor Morbeck's power play marker broke a 2-2 tie with 1:36 left in the middle frame, as the Guelph Gryphons skated past the Warriors 5-2 at the Columbia Icefield Arena in Waterloo.
The loss extends Waterloo's winless streak to seven games, and drops their season record to 5-11-3. Rookies Connor Cole (Kitchener/) and Keigan Goetz (New Hamburg/) scored for the Warriors, while Trevor Martin (Ardrossan/) made 37 stops in defeat.
Meanwhile, the Gryphons improved to 15-4-1 and stayed perfect since the calendar flipped to 2018. Morbeck led the way with two goals and an assist, while Cody Thompson notched a pair of helpers. Guelph also got goals from Tryg Strand, Scott Simmonds, and Seth Swenson, while Kitchener native Andrew Masters made 33 saves to earn the win between the pipes.
Guelph got off to a hot start, as Swenson and Strand each took advantage of Waterloo turnovers to score 28 seconds apart early in the first period. But later in the opening frame, Cole neatly tipped home an Eric Cimino (London/) point shot to narrow the deficit to 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Goetz tied the game early in the second with his team-leading 10th goal, as he pounced on a rebound in front and slid it into the open cage. The see-saw period featured 29 combined shots, but just as it looked like the teams would enter the intermission tied, the highest-scoring team in the OUA shifted momentum back their way.
At the tail-end of a double-minor high-sticking penalty to defenceman Lee Dower (Conception Bay/), Morbeck converted a cross-ice feed and slammed a wrister home to make it 3-2 Guelph. Suddenly, instead of riding a big penalty kill in a tied game into the third, the Warriors found themselves down a goal after 40 minutes.
The hosts would never recover, as Guelph re-extended their advantage on Morbeck's second power play goal of the night. Then, Simmonds rounded out the scoring in a controversial manner, as he snuck one under the pad of Martin – despite the latter's contention that the puck never crossed the line – to make it a 5-2 final.
The Warriors were originally slated for their second consecutive Friday night trip to London to face the Western Mustangs on Friday, January 12. However, poor weather in the London area postponed that game, with a make-up date to be announced in the future.
Instead, the Warriors will now shift their attention to the Windsor Lancers in what could be a huge portion of the schedule for both teams: The Lancers sit in the 8th and final playoff spot in the OUA West, while the Warriors sit 5 points back with one game in hand. The rivals will face each other in three of their next four contests, starting on Wednesday, January 17 in Waterloo. Puck drop is slated for 7pm at the Columbia Icefield Arena.
