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The Guelph Gryphons were officially welcomed to I.1 by their fans today as they hosted FlyingHeadz in their I.1 home opener. The rink was packed with standing room only available. Prior to the game, the fans applauded for 15 minutes or so as the II.2 championship banner was raised. On hand were several members of the community and celebrities from the area. One lucky fan, Maggie McGuffin, won the right to unveil the banner. After the festivities it was finally time to get the game underway.

Once again, the game would be as tight as ever. It would take 22 minutes exactly to break the deadlock as Ján Bádovský would score on the powerplay to take the lead for FlyingHeadz. 65 seconds later Gavin Storer would make it 2-0 for FlyingHeadz and many would feel that would be it for Guelph.

"With a young team you would get the sense that going down two to such a strong club would mean game over, even that early on. But that was not the case with us. We have a veteran club. We stuck with the plan and executed it well. I think it paid off for sure" said Coach Stubbs who is no stranger to defensive play. In fact, Stubbs has been compared to legendary defensive coaches like Jacques Lemaire.

The Gryphons would continue to plug away at the FlyingHeadz and their defensive style of play. It wasn't long after FlyingHeadz made it 2-0 that the veteran forwards of Ebbrell and Kennedy would make it 2-1 with Kennedy assisting on Ebbrell's first of the year and 66th career league play goal. Six minutes later the Gryphons' second unit would tie the game as Kite tie the game. Veterans Memorial Arena was electric!

"I've never scored a goal that caused such noise before. It really energized the boys. It really energized me!" said Kite of his first goal of the season. Kite has been promoted to the second line along side Jody Parrett and David Peake. His veteran experience is expected to help the two promising youngsters develop to their full potential.

The third period would be more of the same even play. Neither Newton nor FlyingHeadz's goalie Matěj Kvasnička would surrender a goal in the final 20 minutes and overtime would be needed.

The Gryphons would get two great chances at Matěj Kvasnička before Ondřej Nejedlý would score with a mere 31s left in overtime to win it for FlyingHeadz.

Despite the loss, Gryphon fans and management are happy with the results so far. "If you would have told us we would get 4 of 6 points against arguably the top two teams in our first two games we would have certainly took that result. I think we played really well tonight and should be proud.

The Gryphons will continue play on Friday when they travel to face Jay's Blinds. Expect another strong performance as the Gryphons strive to solidify themselves as a contender in Canada's top division.

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