Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – Starting their backup goalie, who has only played one period since December, and being run out of the rink by the same Mount Royal University Cougars a night earlier, not many would have given the MacEwan Griffins a chance on Saturday night.
They would have been wrong.
Somehow, some way, this team just continues to defy the odds as Thomas Davis stood on his head with 43 saves and rookie Ethan Strang scored with 10 seconds left in the first overtime to deliver a 2-1 win for the Griffins over the Cougars in Canada West men's hockey action.
"I've talked to our guys about the process and playing the right way and it hasn't always resulted in wins, so I'm really happy to see the guys play a pretty darn good all-around game and get rewarded for their efforts," said Griffins interim head coach Zack Dailey.
With the result, MacEwan (9-16-1) moved into a tie with Regina (8-15-3) for the conference's final playoff spot with two games left for both teams. The Griffins found out after the game that the Cougars took Saskatchewan to overtime, losing 2-1 but picking up a point.
"We did check immediately after and saw they got a point, which is unfortunate," said Dailey, whose team doesn't hold the tiebreaker (regulation wins) with Regina. "But they're doing a great job, too. They're in a fight with us and they're getting points. That's a good team, so we're just going to have to try and take care of things on our own here."
MRU (17-5-4) picked up a point and are tied with UBC for third, one point back of idle Alberta for the right to have a first-round playoff bye.
It's the second time this season that the Griffins have beaten the Cougars in overtime (also winning 3-2 over them on Oct. 22).
On Saturday, the storyline was definitely the play of Davis, who stopped 43 of 44 shots, despite not starting a game for the Griffins since Dec. 3.
"It just speaks to his character," said Dailey. "I've challenged him on staying ready. And that's a hard thing to do, especially in a position where you're comfortable when you see a whole bunch of pucks when you're in game action. For him to stay ready, stay focused and be able to perform is very, very impressive."
Despite being outshot 44-26 in the contest, the Griffins went to overtime thanks to Davis' play.
"There were a couple back door plays where he stretched across and made some really big saves," said Dailey. "Then there were a few on the powerplay where there were scrambles in front of the net and he just kept his position. He made a lot of big saves for us."
MacEwan opened the scoring at 11:18 of the second period when Merritt Oszytko beat MRU's Jackson Berry.
"The play went cross-ice to (Zach) Webb, who caught it around the dot," said Dailey. "Then he drove the net and put a backhand in front. Oz got a stick on it and put it in high far side."
Andrew Fyten finally beat Davis at 3:33 of the third period on the powerplay to force overtime.
Ethan Strang's overtime laser that went off the post and in delivered a 2-1 win for the Griffins (Ethan Bomhof photo).
But Strang played hero for the Griffins with just 10 seconds left in the four-on-four first OT session.
"It was kind of a 2-on-2 rush and he made a play into the middle of the ice on his backhand, stopped and pulled up and shot it through the D," said Dailey. "It went post and in on the blocker side.
"It was an absolute snipe."
What a response from a Griffins team that was left for dead after losing 7-0 to MRU on Friday at home.
"I challenged our guys just about the pride," said Dailey of his pre-game message. "The last two games, we've got run out of the rink in both games. (We talked) about the pride of being a part of this university, a part of this team and then just for themselves.
"All I asked for was an honest effort – something we could be proud of at the end of the day – and I thought they did a good job of doing that."
The Griffins will close out the 2022-23 regular season with a home-and-home series against Calgary on Feb. 10-11.
