In Friday night's (Nov. 13) gripping game at Canlan Ice Sports Arena, the York University Lions men's hockey team was edged by the Guelph Gryphons by a score of 4-3 in a shootout.
 
Despite the loss, the Lions earned another point in the standings and have now registered at least one point in all but one game this season. They are now 6-1-3 on the year and remain in second place in the OUA West standings.
 
The Lions did an impeccable job throughout the game to force the Gryphons into overtime with a critical equalizing third-period goal, but Gryphons shootout goal-scorers Dylan Gilbert and Scott Simmonds outnumbered lone Lion shootout goal-scorer Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) and Guelph ended up taking the shootout with a score of 2-1 that won them the game.
 
In the first period the Gryphons were able to break the scoring with a technical short-handed goal by Robert de Fulviis at 18:50. It was his first goal of the season that was assisted by Simmonds.
 
In the second period the Gryphons increased the lead to 2-0 at 12:15 with a goal from Stephen Hiff, assisted by Sean Robertson and Brett Apio.
 
The Lions were able to narrow the score with a goal of their own at 18:46. The puck was shared between Colton Vannucci (High River, Alta.) and Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.) before it got to the stick of Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.), and with the man advantage on the power play Sheppard had enough time to tuck the puck past the goaltender to make the score 2-1 heading into the second intermission.
 
In the third period, the Lions were hungry for an equalizing goal that almost came instantaneously just 31 seconds in. Thanks to assists from Kyle Campbell (Halifax) and Reid Jackman (Etobicoke, Ont.), Tyler Mort (Keswick, Ont.) executed off of an opportunity in front of goal that put his team back into the game, leveling the score to 2-2.
 
The Gryphons were able to regain the lead quickly however at 1:02, with a goal from Robert Lepine that was assisted by Ryan Strand.
 
The persistent Lions refused to back down and made their second comeback of the game at 18:46. After handling the puck off of a passing sequence from Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) and Petersen, Vannucci wasted no time to seal the 3-3 draw that took his team into overtime.
 
With a quick turnaround before the next game, the Lions will rest their legs before they take on the Windsor Lancers on Saturday (Nov. 14) for another home game. Puck drop will be at 7pm at Canlan Ice Sports.