There was no sleepwalking for the Guelph Gryphons Sunday afternoon at the Gryphon Centre.
The Gryphs came out in a hurry and recovered from an early deficit to oust the Laurentian Voyageurs and advance to the OUA women's hockey league's semifinals.
"It was a team goal for sure to come out flying because we knew that they were feeding off their energy from yesterday so we needed to kind of make that stop before we could start going," Gryphon forward Christine Grant said after the Gryphs won 4-2 in the third and deciding game of their quarter-final series.
Laurentian had forced the series to its three-game limit with a 3-2 victory at the Gryphon Centre 24 hours earlier, Guelph's first loss since Nov. 28.
"We knew going into this game we had a little bit forgotten how to lose a game and it was a big wake-up call for us," Gryphon coach Rachel Flanagan said. "Kudos to them, they led in this series almost the whole way and for us to have to work back and work back was really good for our girls and a real credit to them to come out today and show what they're made of."
"I think it was good for us to lose yesterday," Grant said. "We hadn't lost in a while so we needed it to put us into perspective here and it got us going a little bit earlier. We've struggled with a quick start normally so it put a little more pressure on us but it was good for us."
The teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the first period, although the host Gryphs never led despite a strong start. Grant and Katherine Bailey scored for Guelph while Samantha Morell and Ellery Veerman tallied for Laurentian.
"It was a little frustrating," Grant said. "It seemed that the bounces were going a little more their way these past couple games, but we had a good response and I think we recovered well."
Guelph grabbed the lead late in the second on a goal by Averi Nooren and the Gryphs secured the win with an empty-net goal by Jessica Pinkerton with 26 seconds to play. Getting one assist each for the Gryphs were Bailey, Pinkerton, Nooren, Leigh Shilton, Brittany St. James and Jessica Pellegrino.
The Gryphs hope to carry the momentum they gained Sunday into the semifinal set with either the Laurier Golden Hawks or Nipissing Lakers.
"We're a little bit closer to knowing how we need to play and if we play that way all the way through we're going to be tough to beat," Flanagan said.
"We just need to play the way we know we can," Grant said. "We had a good season and if we continue playing like we did all throughout the season, we should be OK."
