Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – If there is one thing the Griffins women's hockey team has taken most out of a vigorous preseason slate of seven games, it's confidence.
That's the wave they'll be riding into the 2022-23 Canada West season on as they hit the road for an opening series at the Regina Cougars on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m., both Canada West TV).
"Some of the girls have made comments about gaining confidence," said interim head coach Chris Leeming, who will be behind the bench for his first Canada West game on Friday. "Being new to the league last year, it seemed at times it was a little overbearing. Now they've got their feet wet. We've competed with U of C and U of A and Mount Royal. We were in tight games. They were talking last year how they weren't necessarily in games in preseason.
"I think the biggest thing we've taken away is confidence and being ready to compete at this level against other teams. We've really focused on building out our style of play and focusing on our team values that are going to guide us throughout the season."
Among their exhibition highlights, the Griffins took the Alberta Pandas to overtime and lost in a shootout to Mount Royal University. As a capper, MacEwan visited Lakeland College last weekend and found their scoring touch, pouring 11 goals into the opposition's net in back-to-back shutout victories.
"We had a good weekend," said Leeming. "We finally scored some goals, and it was nice to build some confidence for our team moving forward."
Ranked seventh out of nine teams in the annual Canada West preseason coaches' poll, the Griffins will need to climb one spot further than that to make the playoffs. They came close last season, surprising many by making it to the final weekend of the regular season still in contention before falling shy of sixth-place Regina.
"The goal definitely is to make playoffs," said Leeming. "Obviously, to get there is a process. We've had some preliminary discussions about where we want to go with the program. Now where we need to direct our focus is the process.
"What does it look like every day to get to that end goal? If we just hang it over our heads that we need to make playoffs, I think the focus kind of gets shifted in the wrong direction. It's that day-to-day commitment and discipline to the process that's going to get us there."
And for Leeming, personally, Friday's game is a big moment – his first U SPORTS game as a head coach after moving to MacEwan from the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference ranks where he was bench boss of the Olds College Broncos for the past five seasons.
"It's novel, it's all new and exciting in that sense," he explained. "But as soon as the game starts, it's just coach mode. Even in practices, the excitement fades and you get dialed into the moment. It's an exciting opportunity because leading up to the game I still get that pre-game excitement that I did as a player.
"The group has embraced me and I'm grateful for that. We have a great group of people here to work with and that's the most rewarding thing. We've really focused on our group here, playing as a family and demonstrating respect and working hard for one another."
The Griffins will return for their home opener on Oct. 7 vs. Alberta (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
