Despite a relentless and spirited effort in front of 4,300 fans at the Meridian Centre, the Brock Badgers men’s hockey team fell 6-2 to the Guelph Gryphons in the annual Steel Blade Classic showdown.
Four consecutive goals by the Gryphons in the first period were enough to seal the victory, winning their first Steel Blade Classic since 2019. In securing the win, Guelph goaltender Cal Schell made 38 saves in his OUA debut for the Gryphons, which included stopping 17 Badgers’ shots in the third period. Schell’s play in between the pipes in the third prevented momentum from swinging into Brock’s favour, which was the case when the crowd was rowdy at the start of the game.
After an electrifying opening ceremony to commemorate 25 years since the inaugural Steel Blade Classic, the Meridian Centre was in an uproar when Guelph’s Thomas Darcy was called for a tripping penalty less than two minutes into the contest.
Although Brock’s powerplay was subpar last season, ranking 15th of out 19 teams in powerplay percentage (17.0 per cent), the Badgers found a way to convert on the early powerplay as they look to build powerplay momentum heading into the regular season. Jacob Hoffrogge’s point shot was deflected in the slot by first-year forward Zack Stringer passing Schell, to give the home side the early lead. Stringer’s goal ignited the Badgers crowd as Brock was looking to remain victorious for the fourth-straight Steel Blade Classic.
But that dream soon turned into a nightmare when four unanswered Guelph goals passed Badgers rookie netminder Samuel Vyletelka in quick succession, who is in his first season with the Badgers after playing last season in Germany with the Augsburg Aussies.
After Brock defender A.J. Cook blocked a point shot from the faceoff, Guelph’s Julien Gervais pounced on the loose puck finding an open Anthony Tabak who buried it past Vyletelka to tie the game at one.
Four minutes later, Guelph’s Nolan Forster fended off the Brock defender before beating Vyletelka five-hole to give the Gryphons their first lead of the game, silencing the Badgers faithful who were in disbelief after the Badgers started the game on the front foot.
The Gryphons’ two goals in the first 10 minutes matched the same goal total they had in the previous two Steel Blade Classic games combined, 120 minutes of hockey, losing 3-0 to the Badgers last season and 6-2 in 2022.
As such, Gryphons captain Tristan De Jong was looking to lift his first sword trophy, which is awarded to the winning team of the Steel Blade Classic, as the defender doubled Guelph’s lead, putting a backhander past Vyletelka’s glove side to go up two.
Mere moments later, a defensive lapse by the Badgers allowed Jacob Winterton — who assisted on De Jong’s goal — open space up the ice, receiving the stretch pass on the breakaway and beating Vyletelka to go up 4-1 after one.
A scoreless yet actionable second period featured scoring attempts by both sides and scrappy hockey, a continuous theme of the Brock-Guelph rivalry series — a series in which Brock swept last season, winning all four meetings.
But the likelihood of winning a fifth straight against the Gryphons plummeted when Guelph’s Nolan Dunn added a fifth midway through the third to take the four-goal lead.
Brock’s Andrew Amousse’s first Ontario University Athletics (OUA) goal quickly negated Dunn’s goal, but the Gryphons added an empty netter to seal the 6-2 victory.
The Badgers now hold a 1-2 record in the pre-season, beating the York Lions 3-0 and losing 3-2 to the TMU Bold.
Looking forward to the regular season and ultimately the playoffs, the Badgers will need to clean up defensive miscues and poor positioning if they want to compete with the OUA’s best and head back to the U Sports national championships to avenge their quarterfinal defeat to the UNB Reds, which ended their 2023-24 title hopes.
They will also need to find a new scoring touch as last season’s OUA West MVP Jacob Roach and former captain Jared Marino have graduated, while Tyler Burnie has gone professionally in the ECHL as the trio made up 38 of Brock’s 106 goals last season.
In searching for answers, the Badgers will have one more tune-up game next weekend in Oshawa against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, before opening the regular season in Waterloo with back-to-back games against the Waterloo Warriors and Laurier Golden Hawks on Oct. 3 and 5, respectively.
For more information about the Badgers men’s hockey team head to gobadgers.ca, and stay up to date all season long through The Brock Press.