The Lancer men's hockey team dropped game one of the first round of the OUA playoffs 3-1 Thursday night against the Guelph Gryphons, on the road in Guelph.
 
Guelph takes a 1-0 lead in the best of three series, with game two scheduled for Saturday February 17th at 7:30pm in Windsor at South Windsor Arena.
 
The Lancers got on the board first with their lone goal of the game early in the opening period. Alex Friesen took advantage of a bad bounce in front of the Guelph net and popped the puck in behind Guelph goaltender Andrew Masters.
 
Guelph didn't want too long to tie the game up when Todd Winder scored his first of two on the night at 13:49 on the power play to send the game into the intermission deadlocked at one apiece.
 
In the second, Winder registered his second the game mid-way through the period at 9:36.
 
Windsor's best chance of the frame came at the 13:55 mark when Ian Parker fired a shot off the bottom of the cross bar and just missed squeaking into the net.
 
With just under seven minutes remaining the second, Lancer goaltender Jonathan Reinhart took a puck to the head and left the game with an injury.
 
Guelph scored their final goal of the match at 17:48 of the period on Lancer backup goaltender Matt Badour. In his OUA and Lancer debut, Badour played the remainder of the middle frame and stopped four out of five shots that came his way.
 
With Reinhart back in net to start the third, the Lancers felt re-energized and put the Guelph defense to work. The Gryphons also wasted no time welcoming Reinhart back to the game, but neither team was able to capitalize on any scoring opportunities throughout the entire period.
 
Reinhart finished the game with 33 saves on 35 shots, while Masters made 15 all night.
 
UP NEXT
Windsor will look to even the series Saturday night when they host game two of the best of three series. Puck is set to drop at 7:30pm, with doors opening at 6:30pm. Tickets are $10 for adults, and $8 for youth/seniors and can be purchased at the gate or online at www.goLancers.ca/tickets.