Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – Cam Gotaas' hot streak continued for the Griffins as he followed up a four-point night on Friday with a five-point one on Saturday to lift MacEwan to a weekend sweep of the SAIT Trojans with a 6-5 victory.
A night after beating the Trojans 6-3 in Edmonton, the Griffins won again to improve to 17-6-1-0, while dropping the Trojans to 12-8-1-3 in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
More importantly for the Griffins, the victory keeps pressure on Red Deer College (17-5-2-0) for second place and the coveted first-round bye in the playoffs.
"It was a kind of scrappy effort from us," said head coach Mike Ringrose on the back-and-forth affair. "We were good at times and second best at times, but in the end, those are two important points for us."
Bryan Arneson got the Griffins going with a quick goal just 2:26 into the game, after Gotaas set him up in the slot for a quick shot that found its way home through the five-hole of Kyle Dumba.
Just 27 seconds later, though, SAIT responded courtesy of Zach McNeill, finished off a cross-crease pass on an odd-man rush.
McNeill continued his strong first period, giving the Trojans the lead halfway through the frame on a quick backhander over Marc-Olivier Daigle's shoulder.
The high-scoring opening frame continued as the Griffins took advantage of a five-on-three powerplay to tie the game on Andrew Kartusch's wicked wrister from the point under the bar past a screened Dumba.
Just 5:04 into the second period, Gotaas took over and gave the Griffins the lead again. Jordan Taupert burned a defender wide and sent a centering pass through a crowd to the captain, who made no mistake, sniping it under the bar.
"It was a really important weekend for us, and he led the way," said Ringrose on Gotaas' nine-point weekend, which included a goal and four assists on Saturday. "There's a reason he's got a 'C' on his jersey."
Nicolas Correale added to the Griffins' lead midway through the second period, unloading a quick wrister top shelf blocker side.
The Griffins opened the door for the game-tying goal, surrendering a five-on-three powerplay in the first minute of the third, but a few huge stops from Daigle would keep them ahead.
"I thought our goalie was outstanding when he needed to be," said Ringrose. "Between Cam's offensive effort and Marc's effort in the pipes, it was two veteran guys who stepped up in a weekend where we needed leadership and our group followed."
SAIT eventually tied the game 4-4 on goals by Sam Stormoen and Eric Krienke before MacEwan answered back with two of their own.
Just 36 seconds after Krienke's tally, Joseph Karpyshyn stole the puck in the offensive zone and quickly slid it through Dumba's legs for a 5-4 lead.
Taupert would get the all-important insurance goal late in the third period on a powerplay, which eventually prove to be the game winner after SAIT pulled to within one on Krienke's second of the game with 56 seconds left.
The regular season continues to dwindle down for the Griffins with just four games remaining, starting with a weekend series against Portage College on Friday in Lac La Biche (7 p.m., ACAC TV) and Saturday at home (6 p.m., Downtown Community Arena).