'Gryphie' Moment of the Year

The “Gryphie Moment of the Year” award was created in 2016 as a way to acknowledge and celebrate those special moments that occur throughout the course of a season.

There was no shortage of deserving candidates during the 2018-19 campaign, including the four finalists listed below, but in the end, it would be the women’s hockey team taking home the “Gryphie” as the latest “Moment of the Year” recipients.

#1 Women’s Hockey: HOCKEY HISTORY

On Saturday, November 3, the Gryphon football team found themselves trailing 18-0 at halftime, on the road against the No. 5-ranked team in the country in the Ottawa Gee-Gees. With their season on the line, the Gryphons mounted one of the greatest postseason comebacks in program history. The Gryphons scored 17 points in the final 8:45 to escape Ottawa with a 27-22 victory and earn a spot in the 111th Yates Cup. Fourth-year quarterback Theo Landers found wide receiver Thomas Bresciani for a 59-yard touchdown with48 seconds left on the clock to cap the come back in the capital.

On Sunday, March 17, 2019, the Guelph Gryphons women’s hockey team made history by becoming the first-ever women’s hockey team at the University of Guelph to be crowned national champions.

Fifth-year captain Kaitlin Lowy scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game versus McGill, lifting Guelph to a 1-0 win at the U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championships in P.E.I. It also marked the first time ever that the Gryphons had reached the podium at the national level, with the 2018-19 season marking the team’s 6th trip to the national championship tournament in program history.

#2 Track & Field: RUNAWAY WESTAWAY

Over the course of three days in late February, Gryphon track and fieldstar, Jenna Westaway produced an unforgettable weekend. On Friday, February 22, Westaway joined her U of G teammates for Day 1 of the OUA Track and Field Championships at York University and ran the anchor leg on the Gryphons gold-medal-winning 4x800m relay team. On Saturday, she boarded a plane and flew to Boston to take part in the800m at the Boston University Last Chance Meet. By Sunday, Westaway’swhirlwind weekend had officially come to an end. And the Calgary native didn’t

#3 Football: COMEBACK IN THE CAPITAL

On Saturday, November 3, the Gryphon football team found themselves trailing 18-0 at halftime, on the road against the No. 5-ranked team in the country in the Ottawa Gee-Gees. With their season on the line, the Gryphons mounted one of the greatest postseason comebacks in program history. The Gryphons scored 17 points in the final 8:45 to escape Ottawa with a 27-22 victory and earn a spot in the 111th Yates Cup. Fourth-year quarterback Theo Landers found wide receiver Thomas Bresciani for a 59-yard touchdown with48 seconds left on the clock to cap the comeback in the capital.

#4 Cross Country: BACK IN BLACK

There was a noticeable absence on the Gryphons men’s roster at this year’s OUA Cross Country Championships. Connor Black, a 5th-year team captain with the Gryphons (and a former OUA individual champion), was forced to sit out the final OUA race of his career due to a season-threatening foot injury. Two weeks later, with Black still battling the effects of plantar fasciitis, the Human Kinetics major would fight through the pain to suit up for nationals in order to end his collegiate career on his own terms. In a sprint to the tape against Laval’s Jean-Simon Desgagnés, Connor Black would cross the line first to become just the ninth men’s cross country athlete in U of G’s decorated cross country history to claim the title of individual national champion.