Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins have their sights set on earning the first Canada West men's hockey playoff berth in program history and after Friday night, that came a little bit closer into focus.
The Griffins trailed 2-1 after the first period, but put forth a dominant final 40 minutes, scoring six unanswered goals to cruise to a 7-2 win over the Regina Cougars at the Downtown Community Arena.
The victory improved MacEwan to 7-17-1 and gave them a five-point cushion on Regina, who has two games in hand for the final playoff spot in the conference with three games remaining.
"I am really happy with our effort," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "I think there were a lot of good things tonight that we did that we were missing in previous weekends and now we have to shift our focus to tomorrow and prepare for another battle.
"I asked them to settle in and play, and they responded really well and did a lot of the little things that we need to do to be successful."
Samuel Simard led MacEwan with a goal and three assists for MacEwan, which matches Curtis Roach's 2021 program record for the most by a Griffin in a Canada West match and sets a new standard for the most by a rookie. He also ties the program's single game assists mark of three.
MacEwan's offensive explosion was well spread out, though, as they had seven different goal scorers. Ethan Strang, Carter Chorney and Sean Comrie all had one goal and one assist each.
Ben Bygrove scored his first-career Canada West goal, and Kadyn Chabot and Ryley Appelt rounded out the scoring in the victory.
Logan Barlage and Carson Whyte replied for Regina, while Adam Evanoff made 37 saves in the loss for the Cougars who fell to 4-17-1-1.
Sam Simard had a goal and three assists for the Griffins, matching Curtis Roach's program record for the most points in a Canada West game (James Maclennan photo).
"There were a lot of guys who showed some good offensive plays. I was happy to see some guys who have been snake-bit lately to get rewarded. It reinforces some of the good habits we need to do to be rewarded. When you go hard to the net, good things happen," said Dailey.
"That's my ask of the guys is to get to the net. Lately we've been too easy to play against, and I asked them to be tougher in our net front presence and I thought they did a much better job of that tonight."
MacEwan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Comrie's blast from the top of the circle beat Evanoff through traffic, but that lead was short-lived as Regina scored twice in a 39 second span.
"I was certainly happy with our effort. I thought the first period we looked timid and scared. Maybe we were gripping our sticks too tight, because there were some uncharacteristic mistakes we were making," said Dailey.
But after a tough first period, the Griffins responded with arguably their best period of the season.
They crashed the net hard, threw a ton of pucks on net and took full control of the game and were rewarded for it.
M��| GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 27, 2024
Ethan Strang's power play snipe is redirected in by Carter Chorney to tie the game 2-2!@MacEwanHockey @ReginaCougars #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/Sscnrrm7XQ
Chorney tipped in a shot from Strang to tie the game at 2-2 at the 7:44 mark of the second. Then Simard tallied his fifth of the year on a mad scramble in front to give MacEwan a 3-2 with 31 seconds left in the middle frame.
"The guys were dialled in. The playoffs are important, but our focus is playing good hockey," said Dailey.
"We want to play the right way; we want to put pressure on teams and go hard to the net and be hard to play against. We feel if we do that we will get the results we want."
In the third period, the Griffins were rewarded more with their strong effort and scored some highlight reel goals as well as some hard-working gritty goals to blow the game way out of reach.
Bygrove's point shot through all kinds of traffic made it 4-2 just over midway through the third period.
"I was happy to see that (Bygrove goal). He's got a really good shot. The guys did a great job of creating havoc in front of the net and he picked his spot," said Dailey.
Chabot, who was denied on a highlight reel save earlier in the period by Evanoff, wouldn't be denied a second time as he walked into the slot and ripped a shot bar down to give MacEwan a 5-2 lead less than three minutes later.
M��| GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 27, 2024
Bar down beauty from Kadyn Chabot has @MacEwanHockey up 5-2 on @ReginaCougars late in the third!@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/Al0KcK6J2J
Appelt and Strang scored twice in a 32-second span, including a highlight-reel marker on a penalty shot with 1:32 to go by Strang.
"We're looking for our first berth in U SPORTS playoffs, and today was a huge step in the right direction," said Simard. "We said in the locker-room before the game that our playoffs start today, and it's huge (to get this win).
"If we can get these two (wins) this weekend… we want to be playing our best hockey and be in full stride heading into the playoffs."
MacEwan and Regina will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday (4 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
M��| RECAP
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 27, 2024
Sam Simard ties the program record with a four-point night as seven different goal scorers lift @MacEwanHockey to a 7-2 win over @ReginaCougars that puts them five points up on them for final @CanadaWest playoff spot.#GriffNation
STORY➡️https://t.co/8BDSgykGyV pic.twitter.com/DsF9w3Opme
