Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Already facing an uphill battle trying to slow down a nationally-ranked team with speed to burn and extra motivation after losing a night earlier, the MacEwan Griffins had the double whammy of running short on fuel.
"I think that in the long run we ran out of gas," said head coach Zack Dailey after a 5-1 loss to the Mount Royal University Cougars on Saturday night that ended up lopsided after the Griffins allowed three goals against in the third period.
"That's a well-conditioned team, they're very fast. They put pressure on us all game and we weren't able to hold on. Tommy (Davis) did a really good job for us for a long time, and I thought we sat back and relied on him a little bit too much."
Indeed, Davis was fantastic with several highlight-reel saves, including a one-timer late in the first period that had the Canada West TV announcers gasping. He finished with 34 stops, but the Griffins only mustered 14 shots on MRU starter Riley Sims.
As much as energy was waning trying to stop the Cougars, Dailey would have liked more from his group.
"I think there's always a little bit more," he said even when the tank is near empty. "When things aren't going your way, it's tough to break out of that cycle and start with some positive shifts.
"That being said, there were some turnovers that shot us in the foot. I didn't think our special teams were very good, so some of that stuff led to it. But we definitely looked like a tired team out there."
Fortunately for the Griffins, they didn't lose any ground in the playoff race as Regina lost 4-2 to Alberta and remain three points behind them for the sixth and final post-season spot. Those teams will meet next weekend in Regina.
MacEwan is now 5-8-1, seven points behind MRU (9-5-0) for fifth place in the Canada West standings.
The Griffins actually held the lead for nearly six minutes in Saturday's contest when Jordan Taupert opened the scoring for MacEwan 4:12 into the second period, tipping Sean Comrie's shot past Sims on the powerplay.
But it was all MRU after that as they scored five unanswered goals, two of them by Robbie Holmes and singles by Jaden Senkoe, Tim Gould, and Moe Hakim.
At the end of the day, though, if you would have told the Griffins they'd get a split against the No. 7-ranked team in the country (after beating them 3-2 on Friday) they'd have probably taken it.
"Obviously, a split isn't a terrible thing," said Dailey. "I'm just not happy with the way we lost. If we went out there and played a great game, laid it all on the line and lost, you can live with that. But I think there are a lot of guys who can admit they didn't have their best night tonight, which is unfortunate.
"We have to get out of the habit of having one good game and then one where we take it off," he added. "We have to take the next step as a team who finishes and gets two wins in a weekend, and not be just OK with one. I think that's our next step in our evolution."
