Short-handed Griffins fall 4-0 to Cougars, but remain in playoff contention

Goalkeeper Kaleb Lutz jumps on a loose ball Sunday. He stopped all seven shots he faced in his Canada West debut after coming into the match midway through the first half (Adrian Shellard photo).
Goalkeeper Kaleb Lutz jumps on a loose ball Sunday. He stopped all seven shots he faced in his Canada West debut after coming into the match midway through the first half (Adrian Shellard photo).

MacEwan Athletics 

CALGARY – Already down 2-0 and forced to play a man short for the final 72 minutes and change when centre-back Philip Wutzl was handed a red card in the 18th minute, the MacEwan Griffins fell 4-0 to the Mount Royal Cougars on Sunday.

It's the second-straight loss for the Griffins, who fell 5-1 to Calgary in the road trip's opener on Saturday.

"It was an unfortunate weekend," said head coach Adam Loga. "Sadly, we keep beating ourselves. It's self-inflicted. We are our toughest opponent."

MRU got two goals each from Miguel Da Rocha and Finn Marshall as they outshot MacEwan 20-3 (15-0 on goal) in the contest.

David Sithole stopped three of seven shots in 29:22 of action before he was replaced by Kaleb Lutz, who made his Canada West debut and impressively stopped all seven shots he faced the rest of the way.

With the result, the Cougars improve to 5-2-5, while the Griffins fall to 3-8-1.

Despite the losses, the Griffins remain in the playoff hunt, but Sunday's match was their game in hand on idle Lethbridge (2-3-7), who are now three points ahead (and level on games) for the fourth and final post-season position in the Canada West Prairie Division. 

Saskatchewan (3-8-1) is tied with MacEwan for fifth with two games left in the regular season.

"We are still in the mix with two matches to go," said Loga. "We can still control our own fate. We move on."

Their fate will be determined in a pair of matches against cross-town rival Alberta. The Griffins will visit the Golden Bears on Oct. 13 (2:15 p.m., Foote Field) and finish the regular season against them on Oct. 18 (6 p.m., Edmonton Scottish, both Canada West TV).

Lethbridge has remaining matches against Calgary (Oct. 18) and Mount Royal (Oct. 20), while Saskatchewan will play the same teams on the opposite days.

Saskatchewan holds the season series tiebreaker on both teams, while MacEwan holds the season series tiebreaker on Lethbridge.