Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – More than 19 months since their 2019-20 playoff run was halted due to the pandemic, the MacEwan men's hockey team will finally be back on the ice – this time for an exciting new chapter in program history.
The Griffins will make their long-awaited U SPORTS debut in the Canada West conference when they visit the Regina Cougars on Oct. 15-16 (7 p.m. and 3 p.m., both Canada West TV).
MacEwan's home-opening weekend against Calgary is set for Oct. 22-23 (7 p.m. and 3 p.m., both Downtown Community Arena).
"It's really exciting for the program," said head coach Michael Ringrose. "Obviously, it was a process to get through the door (into Canada West) and then to have the pandemic right as soon as we were about to get started, it's just made for a long wait.
"We're excited to get going."
See the Griffins' 2021-22 regular season schedule here
See the full Canada West 2021-22 men's hockey schedule here
MacEwan and Trinity Western are both joining the conference's seven other teams. The newbies will square off against one another in Edmonton Nov. 26-27 (7 p.m. and 2 p.m., both DCA).
Another highlight of the Griffins' 20-game schedule includes two home-and-home series against cross-town rival Alberta Dec. 3-4 and Feb. 11-12.
Home weekends also feature matches against MRU (Jan. 28-29) and Saskatchewan (Feb. 4-5), while the Griffins will also have road visits to UBC (Oct. 29-30), MRU and Calgary (Nov. 12-13, respectively) and Manitoba (Jan. 14-15).
The top six teams will make the playoffs with the top two earning byes past the Feb. 18-20 opening round, while Seeds 3-6 and 4-5 will meet each other in best-of-three quarter-final series.
Conference semifinals are set for Feb. 25-27, while the championship final series goes March 4-6. Those are also best-of-three affairs.
The U SPORTS men's hockey championship is scheduled for March 17-20 at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.