Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – Sean Comrie got his own rebound and ripped home the game-winner with 7:19 remaining as the MacEwan Griffins beat the Trinity Western Spartans 4-3 on Saturday afternoon and moved past Regina into the final playoff spot in Canada West.
MacEwan never trailed in the contest and finally put away the plucky Spartans – who twice fought back from deficits – earning a weekend sweep over the team they entered Canada West with in 2021.
"That was a great goal," said head coach Zack Dailey of Comrie's winner. "That whole line had a great offensive shift in the zone there. Sean made the first shot; they made a nice block and then he was able to get his own rebound and get it through.
"I'm happy to see him get rewarded because he's been a very, very solid player for us these last two weeks."
With the result, the Griffins (4-7-1) are a point ahead of Regina (3-7-2), who lost 3-2 to Manitoba on Saturday, and drop Trinity Western (2-10-0) further in their rear-view mirror.
"These are teams we're directly competing with, so it's very important to get points up on them," said Dailey. "That way we're taking care of any potential tiebreak down the road."
Ashton Abel turned in a 30-save effort for the Griffins, while Leon Sommer stopped 27 for the Spartans.
"Abel was very good for us again," said Dailey. "He made some big saves for us and was just solid all around, so that was good."
Ashton Abel made 30 saves for the Griffins (Mark Janzen photo).
Loeden Schaufler opened the scoring for MacEwan just 1:02 into the contest when he froze a defender with a move at the top and ripped a shot past Sommer on an early powerplay.
Ethan Strang made it 2-0 MacEwan 6:13 into the game, going five-hole on Sommer off a tic-tac-toe faceoff win by Brendan Boyle and pass by Kadyn Chabot.
After TWU rallied back to tie the game on tallies by Mikol Sartor and Mitchell Joss, Chabot went to work as he took Boyle's chip off the wall and cruised in off the left wing, snapping a shot past Sommer to restore MacEwan's lead.
The tally, Chabot's second in as many games, gave him a three-point outing (1G, 2A), tying the program record for most points by a rookie in a Canada West game.
Schaufler also scored for the second time in as many games as both players wrapped up tremendous weekends.
"Both have good shots, so I'm happy to see them using their shots," said Dailey. "Schaufler's been good on the powerplay, so he's getting rewarded there. And (Kayden) was a big scorer in junior, so it's nice to see it translate in U SPORTS."
But the night wasn't done as TWU fought back to tie it again on another goal by Sartor 3:45 into the third period. So, Comrie's tally was needed to salt the win away.
"They came hard," said Dailey. "They're a good team. They skate and compete really well. They put pressure on us all game, so I was happy we found a way to win.
"I don't think we played our best, but we found a way and that's what's important."
Next up for the Griffins is a home-and-home series with Mount Royal University Nov. 17-18 with Friday's contest at the Downtown Community Arena (7 p.m., Canada West TV).
