GUELPH, Ont. (February 19, 2014) – The No. 8 Queen's Gaels pulled off the upset in game one of their best-of-three series against the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons with a 2-1 triple overtime victory in Guelph, Ontario on Wednesday night.

Shawna Griffin (Redwood Meadows, Alta.) scored the game winner at 16:29 of the third overtime period to end the Gryphon win streak at 14 games.

Jessica Wakefield (Lucan, Ont.) scored her second goal of the playoffs at 2:51 of the opening frame on the powerplay to give the Gaels an early 1-0 lead over thier rivals from Guelph. The lone assist on the play went to Marie-Pierre Pelissou (Toronto). Wakefield got the puck past the Gryphon goalie Stephanie Nehring which held up as the only goal of the opening frame.

Guelph outshot Queen's 10-6 in the first period.

In the second Queen's found themselves shorthand on three separate occasions but were able to hold the Guelph offense at bay, thanks in large part to the goaltending of Gaels fifth-year starter Mel Dodd-Moher (Stittsville, Ont.). The Gaels got one powerplay chance of their own in the period but were unable to convert. Shots were tied at 6-6 in the second frame.

In the third the game looked all but over with Queen's blocking a large portion of the Gryphon shots and Dodd-Moher turning aside the rest but the home team struck late. Kimberley Wong got a loose puck at the side of the net and fired it past the Gaels goaltender and into the net to even the score at 1-1 with only 1:16 remaining in the third period.

The two teams were headed to overtime.

The Gaels had a few power play chances in overtime starting in the first session but were unable to convert. Guelph fired two shots on net to the Gaels one in the first overtime period and the game remained scoreless.

In double overtime the offensive pace picked up a bit more with Guelph once again outshooting the Gaels this time 5-4.

In took triple overtime to decide a winner however. After Nadia Larocca (Mississauga, Ont.) kept the puck in at the point she found Kyla Crouse (Mount Brydges, Ont.) at the side of the net who then found an open Griffin who lifted the puck over the pads of Nehring to give the Gaels the win.

Dodd-Moher finished with 42 saves to net the win for Queen's.

The Gaels are back in action Friday night at 7:30pm at the Memorial Centre in Kingston as they look to close out the Gryphons on home ice. For ticket information visit www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets

ICE CHIPS - Wiht the win the Gaels ended Guelph's 14 game win streak... In the OUA semifinal opening series game in 2012-13 the Gaels also won in Guelph to snap a 16 game Gryphon win streak... The longest game played between these two teams came in 2011 when the Gaels won in six overtimes in Guelph... This year's game took just under 3.5 hours in length, starting at 7:31pm and finishing at 10:58pm... Gaels captain Morgan McHaffie (Guelph, Ont.) returned to the lineup after missing game two against Windsor last week.