MacEwan Athletics

OLDS – Raven Beazer had two goals and an assist to lead the MacEwan Griffins to a 6-2 victory over the Olds College Broncos on Thursday night.

While victory is a nice way to kick off a block of three games in as many nights on MacEwan's final weekend of the regular season, that wasn't the only good fortune of the evening.

Needing help to have a chance at the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, the Griffins got some when the NAIT Ooks lost 2-1 to the Red Deer College Queens. As a result, they trail the Ooks by just two points for top spot and have a game in hand.

To pass the Ooks for top spot, though, would require the Griffins winning their final two games (at SAIT on Friday, 7 p.m., and vs. SAIT on Saturday, 6 p.m., Downtown Community Arena) and having RDC beat NAIT on Saturday in Edmonton.

The difference between the first and second seeds is dramatic as it either means a playoff match against No. 4 Olds (6-17-1-0), if you finish first, or No. 3 RDC (13-5-5) if you're second.

Thursday's game at Olds – a makeup date from a week earlier when inclement weather forced a postponement – was a rout in favour of the Griffins, who outshot the Broncos 45-11.

Beazer had the winning goal at 17:41 of the second period, her first of two-straight on the night.

Carley Jewell continued her torrid pace of late with a goal and an assist to run her streak to six points in her past three games.

Chantal Ricker, Morgan Casson and Tessa Mitchell also scored for the Griffins (16-3-3), while Shyla Jans and Nikki Reimer had two assists each.

Sandy Heim picked up the win with nine saves. Catalina Hartland stopped 39 for the Broncos, who got a pair of goals from Jordan Pettman in the defeat.