The Lions men’s hockey team fell short on Friday evening, losing 3-4 to the Guelph Gryphons. The team finished off with a 2-1 victory over the Windsor Lancers in Saturday’s game.
The Lions are headed under the direction of head coach Chris Dennis this season. Dennis was formerly an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as for the Toronto Marlies during their playoff run toward the 2012 Calder Cup finals.
“Coach Dennis brings a new energy to the team and the expertise he brings from the professional level is exciting,” says Lions defenseman Shayne Rover.
Both teams played vigorously in Friday’s game, trying to take the advantage on the scoreboard. The Gryphons got on the scoreboard first with a technical short-handed goal in the first period, and added a second one in the second period to take a 2-0 lead.
Just before the second intermission, Derek Sheppard of the Lions tucked the puck past the goaltender, leaving his team trailing by one point as the third period started off.
The Lions followed up with another goal, tying the game at 2-2, to which the Gryphons responded with a third goal of their own. The Lions’ Colton Vannucci then sealed the deal by scoring another one for the team, tying the game at 3-3 and sending the game into overtime.
The game was eventually decided by a shootout, which the Gryphons won, out-scoring the Lions two goals to one and achieving a 4-3 victory.
“I think we could work on consistency,” says the Lions’ Josh LaFrance. “We have a ton of talent on our team but we just need to play a full 60 minutes without taking a shift off.”
Saturday’s game ended off in stark contrast to the previous evening’s upset, with the Lions coming out on top with a 2-1 victory over the Lancers.
The Lancers scored in the first period, taking the 1-0 lead but holding it only for six seconds as Sheppard once again stepped up to the challenge and scored. The game-tying goal was Sheppard’s seventh of the season.
The Lancers then shifted gears, turning away every possible shot until Lions’ player Mihkel Poldma scored his first goal of the season and gave the Lions the 2-1 lead with which they won the game.
“Winning feels really good,” says Lions right wing player Corey Scott. “We’ve worked very hard to get to this point but it leaves us feeling hungry for first place.”
Their strong performance in both of these games gives the Lions 17 points in total as they improve their record to 7-1-3. Five of these 11 games have gone into overtime.
The team hopes to get more support from the York community in future games. “We as a team are trying to be more involved in being part of the community this year and any reciprocation is a bonus,” says Rover.
Tatiana Prisiajny, Features Editor
