Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — Sometimes it's just not your night.
Everything that could go wrong for the MacEwan Griffins went wrong in an 8-1 loss to the No. 1 ranked University of Calgary Dinos on Friday night at the Downtown Community Arena.
Max Patterson and Noah King scored two goals each, while Jake Gricius, Riley Stotts, Marty Westhaver and Josh Maser also replied for the visitors as they outshot MacEwan 49-13 to extend their Canada West record winning streak to 22 games.
Ryley Appelt scored the lone marker in the loss for MacEwan, who remain tied for the final playoff spot with the Regina Cougars, who lost 6-3 at UBC, but will need a win or at least a point, and a Regina loss on Saturday to clinch the final playoff spot.
"Anytime you give up two goals in the last minute and a half of a period, it doesn't feel good. That really hurt us, but it was a tough game all around," said Griffins defenceman Curtis Roach.
"We had too many turnovers and we gave them too many Grade A chances, and against a team like Calgary, they'll make you pay for it."
The Dinos led 1-0 on Paterson's 12th goal of the season, just 1:46 into the contest. The opening 20 minutes were dominated by the Dinos, and MacEwan was doing a solid job of holding on, but Westhaver's eighth goal of the season with 1:32 left, and Stotts' 10th goal with just 19 seconds left, snuffed out any chance of MacEwan escaping the first period with a small deficit. Instead it was a big hole.
"Coach Dails (Zack Dailey) has been preaching it all year to not step off the gas at the end of periods, and it was the worst time to be giving up chances like we did," said Griffins forward Elijah Brown.
"If we go into the second period only down 1-0, we give ourselves a chance against the best team in the league, but to give up those last two, we shot ourselves in the foot."
The Dinos continued to pour it on in the second period, scoring three more goals on starter Thomas Davis.
King scored his fifth of the season, just 4:36 into the second. Two minutes later Gricius made it 5-0 and just 1:40 after that Maser would let go a rocket from the slot to make it 6-0.
Three goals in just 3:40 put the game far out of reach for MacEwan.
"This loss is on us," said Appelt.
"We made too many turnovers and there were too many mistakes that cost us. Against a team like Calgary, you have to limit your mistakes, and we didn't give ourselves a chance tonight."
Knowing the way was far too out of reach, the Griffins focused on just having a strong third period, in hopes of gaining some positives heading into their rematch in Calgary on Saturday.
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— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 11, 2023
Ryley Appelt gets @MacEwanHockey on the board at last in the third period and, fittingly, on #SeniorNight, the apples go to graduating guys Nic Correale and Cam Reagan.@UCDinos @CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/b6pqvOMGBq
Appelt finished off a nice pass from senior Nic Correale to break Carl Tetachuk's shutout bid at the 6:20 mark of the third, and they showed some push-back after a nightmare first 40 minutes.
"There were a little more positives in that third period. Coach (Dailey) came in and just said that we have four more periods to play in our regular season, we have to set a tone," said Appelt.
"We didn't end up winning the period, but I thought we made a little bit of a mark, and we have to carry that forward."
The Griffins have shown this season that they can bounce back after a rough loss. They will need to do that if they want to clinch their first playoff berth in their program's history.
The odds may be stacked against the Griffins, but their belief certainly hasn't wavered in any way shape or form.
"We're going against arguably the best team in Canada, and we're fighting for our playoff lives. How cool would it be to snap their (22-game) winning streak and clinch a playoff spot for the first time in our program's history," said Brown.
"We have so much to play for tomorrow, and I'm confident we are going to be at our best and leave it all out there and give ourselves a chance."
MacEwan will wrap up their regular season on Saturday (6 p.m., Father David Bauer Arena, Canada West TV).
