Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
SASKATOON, Sask. – The margin between a victory and defeat on Saturday night was so miniscule, it took a spectacular save by goaltender Roddy Ross and help from his posts – twice – in the shootout for the Saskatchewan Huskies to eke past the MacEwan Griffins men's hockey team 2-1.
The Griffins picked up their first point of the season with their strongest game to date and nearly had two, outplaying the Huskies in overtime and coming within a whisper three times in the shootout.
"I'm definitely proud of our group," said head coach Zack Dailey on a huge response from Friday when they were beaten 6-2 by the Huskies. "That's the expectation. That's the way we have to play if we want to be successful, so I'm super happy with their bounce back effort, riding on the back of Tommy Davis with another great effort giving us a chance to win."
Davis made 32 saves on 33 shots, including a huge breakaway stop late in OT to get the game into a shootout.
He also stopped the Huskies' first four attempts before Carter Stebbings finally beat him in Round 5 with a glove side shot inside the post.
It's the second-straight near game-stealing outing for Davis, who made 50 saves in a 4-3 loss to Calgary last weekend.
"I think it's all hard work," said Dailey. "He's getting rewarded for his hard work. He came into camp and led our team in fitness testing and then during our workouts, he's doing extra reps of everything and staying later than everyone else.
"It's paying off and I'm really happy to see him getting rewarded."
It could easily have been MacEwan winning the shootout. Vincent Scott had Ross beat in the second round with a sneaky half deke that sent the puck up in the air and heading in before the Huskies tendy reached back and swept it off the line with his paddle.
Jordan Taupert and Liam Hughes also both hit posts in Rounds 4 and 5.
Ross got some luck but finished with 23 saves on 24 shots.
"Ross played very well tonight," said Dailey. "He made some big saves. We just couldn't get a bounce tonight. But this is the effort we need every night and hopefully we can build upon this."
Saskatchewan opened the scoring on Justin Ball's short-handed tally just 1:30 into the second period, but it didn't take MacEwan long to respond. Just over two minutes later, Ethan Strang gathered the puck up inside his own blueline and pressed the turbo boosters, slicing through the Huskies' defence like a rocket and beating Ross with a sick backhand-forehand deke.
He also scored a very similar goal against Calgary last weekend.
"It seems like he's got some speed bursts going lately," said Dailey. "He's a goal scorer and so we're happy to see him get one there. It was a pretty great individual effort by him."
With the result, the Griffins improve to 0-3-1, while Saskatchewan is 4-0-0.
Next up for MacEwan is a home-and-home series vs. cross-town rival Alberta with them hosting the Golden Bears on Oct. 13 (7 p.m., DCA, Canada West TV).
