The York University Lions men's hockey team lost its first game in regulation of 2015 to the visiting Guelph Gryphons by a score of 4-3 on Saturday (Jan. 17) in a home game at Canlan Ice Sports.
 
In the first period Shayne Rover (Newmarket, Ont.) opened up the scoring at 7:55 with a superb goal from 17 metres out on the left side, where he sent the puck sprawling to the top left corner of the net.
 
The Gryphons didn't let the Lions hold the lead for very long, however, as Scott Simmonds scooped in an effortless goal at 10:07, leveling the score at 1-1 after the first period of play.
 
In the second, Colton Vannucci (Calgary) took a chance at 3:49 by shooting the puck parallel to the net from the right side and miraculously curved the puck into the left side of the net, scoring a power play goal and giving the Lions a 2-1 lead. 
 
At the midway point of the period, Guelph's Robert De Fulviis chipped the puck past the defence and over the left shoulder of York goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) to once again level the score at 2-2.
 
The Lions continuously attacked Gryphons goalie Andrew D'Agostini with 15 shots, but he stopped all of the goals from entering his net. The Gryphons finally took their first lead of the game just before the end of the period when MacKenzie Nichol scored a goal at 17:46, putting the score at 3-2 heading into the final frame.
 
In the final period the Lions came out flying as Trevor Petersen (Thronhill, Ont.) scored a goal on the power play, with the help of Michael Santini (Woodbridge, Ont.) and Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) at 3:28, to tie the game at 3-3.
 
The Gryphons continued to push forward, as did the Lions. Both sides scrambled for another goal and both goalies fought hard. As time wound down, Michael Hasson snuck in a fourth goal at 14:46 to give Guelph the lead again, and the Gryphons held on down the stretch to steal the win.
 
Perugini made 29 saves in the loss, while D'Agostini stopped 19 for the win.
 
The Lions remain in sixth place in the OUA West standings with an 8-11-2 mark, while the Gryphons improved to 7-11-3 with their third straight win but remain one point out of the playoff picture in the division.
 
The next game for the Lions is a home game on Friday (Jan. 23) against the No. 10 nationally-ranked Western Mustangs at 7pm at Canlan Ice Sports.