Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Colin Schmidt scored four times – the first four of his Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference career – while captain Cam Gotaas added two short-handed tallies as the MacEwan Griffins walloped cross-town rival Concordia 9-1 on Friday night at Clareview Arena.
The Griffins remained undefeated in 2020, improving their 2019-20 record to 12-5-0-0, while extending a winning streak to three. With the loss, Concordia falls to 7-8-1-1.
"He's been working extremely hard since the start of the year waiting for his chance to get in the lineup," said interim head coach Sean Ringrose of Schmidt, who just gained eligibility to play in the second half of the 2019-20 season. "He's definitely got a dangerous shot and a nose for the net – he definitely showed his ability to score tonight."
Playing in just his third game of the season on Friday, Schmidt broke the ice early in the contest, giving the Griffins a 1-0 lead with his first ACAC goal off a wicked wrister from the slot that went just under the bar.
It didn't take long for the Griffins to double their lead thanks to Gotaas, who tucked in his team-leading 10th of the year just 21 seconds into the second frame when the short-handed offering took a fortuitous bounce off a defender's stick and fooled netminder Tanner McCorriston.
A picture-perfect stretch pass from Cameron Reagan and a quick one-touch pass from Brett Smythe, sent the streaking Joseph Karpyshyn in alone on a short-handed breakaway midway through the second period and he made it 3-0.
Gotaas then scored another on the PK, stealing the puck deep in the Thunder zone and scoring off the rebound of his wraparound attempt.
It's hard not to imagine three short-handed goals in one period is some kind of record.
"The guys worked hard on the PK and were able to create a couple of chances on the penalty kill," said Ringrose. "It's a real positive for the team."
The Griffins kept piling it on into the third period, starting with Brayden Hyland who stole the puck and created a two-on-one break, getting a give-and-go pass from Chase Miller, and hitting the cage halfway through the frame.
Minutes later on another give and go, Schmidt buried his second of the game, just squeaking it through McCorriston's legs. He completed the hat trick on the powerplay with 5:32 left and then added a fourth with 2:51 remaining.
"It's nice to add a player of Colin's ability to the lineup, he's a big guy with a good set of hands," said Ringrose. "He's played extremely well in the first three games in the second half here and he's showed off all the hard work he's put in (practice)."
Jordan Taupert finished with a goal and two assists, while Zach Webb, Smythe and Austin Yaremchuk each had two-assist nights.
The Griffins will aim for a weekend sweep over the Thunder when they host the rematch on Saturday (6 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, ACAC TV).
"I expect Concordia wasn't happy with their game tonight and I expect them to come with a really strong effort tomorrow night," said Ringrose. "So, we are going to need to be ready for that."
The evening will be part of the ACAC's Make Some Noise For Mental Health initiative. Noisemakers will be passed out as well as T-shirts and prizing. RBC will also be on hand to make a generous $1,000 donation to the Adopt a Griffin fund.
