The Guelph Gryphons men's ice hockey team is an active ice hockey program representing the

Guelph Gryphons The Guelph Gryphons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of the U Sports (OUA's), and, where applicable, i ...

athletic department of the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

. The team has been active since the formation of the college in 1964 and is currently a member of the

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; ) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, ...

conference under the authority of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

. The Gryphons play at the Gryphon Centre in

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

History

Early years

One of Guelph's predecessor schools, the Ontario Agricultural College, began fielding an ice hockey team at least as far back as 1898. As a small school, OAC played at the intermediate level of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

but only did so sparingly. In the early 20th century, the Redmen also played in the Intermediate Intercollegiate Series but, as most colleges did, suspended play for the duration of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war, OAC would play off an on for much of the 1920s and 30s. In the early 40s, the team attempted to play through

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

but eventually suspended play in 1945.

Return to play

In 1950, Ontario Agricultural College resumed play but remained an independent program. Its unclear at this time whether or not the school still operated at the intermediate level or if they had joined the senior level of college hockey yet. OAC soldiered on with their club for over a decade before finally joining the Quebec–Ontario Athletic Association in 1961. The team played for two seasons before sitting out the 1964 years while the University of Guelph was being formed.

Ontario Veterinary College

There is some indication that the Ontario Veterinary College played as a member of the Ontario Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1964. Records from Toronto Metropolitan include two matches against 'OAVC' in 1964, which could have been a combined team from OAC and OVC. In any event, the league played at the intermediate level and is not officially recognized by the university.

Guelph

Once the first official team from Guelph hit the ice, the Gryphons found themselves with a tough row to hoe. The new club rejoined the QOAA and saw lean years for the duration of the 1960s. It wasn't until 1970 that the Gryphons were able to get out of the conference cellar and they weren't able to produce a winning season until 1972, the first year of play in the OUAA. Over the course of the 70s, Guelph steadily improved and the team won its first league championship in 1976. Guelph finished as runners-up for the national title that year and returned to the tournament in both 1979 and 1980. Afterwards, the program flagged and saw mostly losing seasons until the early 1990s.

Championship

The Gryphons rebuilt into a powerhouse, routinely winning their division while making several trips to the league final. Guelph won two OUAA championships in the mid-90s and appeared in 4 national tournaments in 5 years. Their successful run culminated with the 1997 CIAU championship. Afterwards, Guelph remained a strong team in the conference but they spent most of the next 20 years failing to make the national series. In 2015, Guelph won a stunning league championship despite having a losing record in the regular season. The Gryphons continued their inspired run and finished with the bronze medal at the 2015 CIS University Cup. Before the decade was out, Guelph made two more appearances in the national tournament but neither saw them win a game.

Season-by-season results

Intermediate and collegiate play

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points'' Guelph Gryphons 2012

Senior collegiate play

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points'' Note: Totals include senior collegiate play only.
Note: Two additional losses from missing series results in 1979 and 1980 are possible.

Notable alumni

* Ken Lockett *

Brad Pirie J. Bradley Pirie (born October 21, 1955) is a Canadian former ice hockey player. He played with Team Canada at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Early life Pirie was born in Guelph. He played with the University of Guelph Gryphons, where he was an all ...

Dean Prentice Dean Sutherland Prentice (October 5, 1932 – November 2, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 22 seasons between 1952–53 and 1973–74. He had 10 NHL seasons with 20 or mo ...

(assistant coach)

References

External links

* {{CIS men's ice hockey Ice hockey teams in Ontario University of Guelph Guelph Gryphons U Sports men's ice hockey teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1898 1898 establishments in Ontario