Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
REGINA – Ashton Abel withstood a barrage of third-period pressure and refused to allow anything, picking up his second shutout of the season as the Griffins men's hockey team blanked the Regina Cougars 2-0 on Friday night.
Calm, collected, composed and just always seemingly in the right position, the fifth-year goaltender made 32 saves as MacEwan gained two points on the team directly chasing them for the final playoff spot in Canada West.
The Griffins improved to 6-8-1 in the standings, now five points ahead of Regina (3-10-2) for sixth place in the conference.
"He was great," said head coach Zack Dailey of Abel. "He was a rock for us, made a couple really big saves and bailed us out at times. It gave us the confidence to just go play.
"We know we can rely on him; we know we don't need to stay back and help him out a whole bunch, just play our game. He's definitely a very important piece of our team and he had a great game."
Carter Chorney was the other hero for the Griffins on the night as he broke a 40-minute-long scoreless deadlock with the contest's opening goal – and eventual game-winner – just 11 seconds into the third period.
After captain Kole Gable knocked down a Regina clearing attempt, Chorney scooped up the puck along the half-wall, deked out a couple defenders on his way to the middle of the ice and ripped a laser blocker side past Cougars netminder Adam Evanoff.
"One of his biggest strengths is his release and his shot," said Dailey. "We've been challenging him to find ways to get his shot off and create a little bit of space for himself.
"That was a really good play to cut to the middle and then use his release. I'm happy to see him get rewarded."
Regina came at the Griffins in waves after that, but no dice. Abel made several great saves, including denying Carson Whyte with a huge shoulder save.
Abel would surely be the first to also give credit to his defence, though. The number of shots the Griffins blocked down the stretch in the contest made a huge difference.
One of the biggest ones came in the dying seconds as Marc Pasemko stepped up and got a leg on Randen Schimdt's point blast, which directly led to Samuel Simard icing the game with an empty-netter right before the buzzer.
"That was something we've been stressing from Day 1 and the guys have been responding really well," said Dailey. "I can't say enough about it. That's what we need if we're going to be successful.
"Definitely, the group overall has done a much better job of getting in lanes and blocking shots and that's what we need if we're going to continue to win."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (4 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
"That's a really good hockey team," said Dailey. "We're on the road here. I really liked our effort; I liked our sacrifice.
"We bent but didn't break. I'm just happy for the guys to get rewarded for sticking to the game plan."
