It took a little longer than they hoped, but the Guelph Gryphons are the OUA men's hockey champions.
Ted Nichol scored 1:14 into the third overtime Saturday night as Guelph downed the Ottawa Gee-Gees 2-1 in the Queen's Cup final.
Both teams now advance to the eight-team national championship tournament in Halifax March 12-15. Guelph has not won a national championship since 1997.
Nichol took a pass from Ryan Valentini on the left wing and fired a wrist shot to the stick side that beat Ottawa goaltender Domenic Graham, sending a sold-out Gryphon Centre crowd of 1,600 into a frenzy.
Seconds ealier the Gee-Gees were stopped on a two-on-one break by Gryphon goaltender Andrew Masters then got some luck when a juicy rebound bounced over an Ottawa player's stick.
Masters was named the Gryphon player of the game after making 51 saves.
"I pretty much blacked out, but I knew Vally (Ryan Valentini) loves to try to suck the 'D' in, and I was just ready for him to give it to me," said Nichol following the game in a Gryphon news release. "So I just tried to get the shot off as quick as I could, and it found a hole. It's crazy."
Marc Stevens for Guelph then Kevin Domingue for Ottawa scored 21 seconds apart early in the third period to set up the overtime.
