Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Kole Gable played the hero for the Griffins with just 2:02 left in the third period on the powerplay, as MacEwan completed a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over the SAIT Trojans in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference men's hockey action Saturday night.
Gable tipped Jordan Taupert's shot through the legs of SAIT goaltender Kyle Dumba as MacEwan recovered from a 2-0 deficit at the Downtown Community Arena.
"I think we are just firing on all cylinders and are just starting to click," said Gable. "We are playing with confidence and we know how to play every night and its showing."
The Griffins completed the weekend series sweep over the Trojans (4-3-1-2) for their fourth-straight win, bumping their record up to 7-3-0-0 to close the gap on NAIT (9-1-0-0) and Red Deer College (8-1-1-0), who top the ACAC standings.
"That's a sign of a good team, not showing any quit," said interim head coach Sean Ringrose n the comeback victory. "We continued to fight hard, we pushed and clawed back no matter what the score was and that's important for our group.
"Standings wise it was a hug weekend for us, we needed to maintain pace with the teams who are winning at the top of the standings and we're jostling for position right now with SAIT, so those points were extra important."
Cameron Reagan came close to breaking the deadlock halfway through the first with a slick wrap-around attempt but was stoned by Dumba's miraculous post-to-post pad save.
MacEwan would surrender the first goal of the game late in the first period when SAIT broke through on a two-on-one and Zach McNeill beat Thomas Davis.
It was an emotional game between the Edmonton and Calgary based squads with plenty of extra-curricular activity between whistles which led to numerous Griffins penalties – their undoing early on. Only 33 seconds into the second period, the Trojans were able to double their lead on the powerplay after a point shot pinballed its way off multiple bodies and past an unsuspecting Davis.
Instead of rolling over, though, the Griffins quickly responded less than three minutes later when Nicolas Correale one-timed a pass past Dumba low glove side to cut the Trojans' lead in half.
Correale notched his second of the contest late in the middle frame, tying the game on a powerplay when he roofed the puck on an empty net after a brilliant between-the-legs tip by Cam Gotaas had the rebound fall right into his lap.
Davis earned the victory with 19 saves on the night while Dumba made 48 saves for the Trojans.
The Griffins are back in action next Friday when they take host Portage (7 p.m., DCA).
Kole Gable celebrates scoring the game-winning goal late in the third period (Joel Kingston photography).