The Lancer men's hockey team opened the 2017 calendar year with an 8-4 loss to the Guelph Gryphons on Tuesday night in Guelph. 

The loss moves the Blue & Gold to 10-7-2 on the year and in third place in the OUA west division, while the Gryphons improve to 10-7-0 and sit just two points behind Windsor. 

After the Gryphons scored in the final seconds of the first period to take a 1-0 lead, the Lancers started the second period on fire with three straight goals. Tyson Ness and Blake Blondeel would stun the hosts with two really quick goals 34 seconds apart as they capitalized on the sluggish Gryphon start. Thirty seconds later things would snowball even more for the hosts as the Lancers earned a penalty shot and Konnor Hass beat Scott Stajcer low to give Windsor a 3-1 lead. 

From there, the Gryphons came alive and scored three goals of their own in the second period to once again hold a one goal lead heading into the final period. 

In the third, Chris Scott scored the Lancers lone goal of the period as Guelph continued to dominate the ice, scoring four more goals in the final twenty minutes to take a 8-4 win. 

The Lancers will return to South Windsor Arena this weekend as they host the McGill Redmen in a weekend double header. The puck will drop at 7:30pm on both Friday and Saturday night and can be seen live on www.oua.tv.