Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Stepping up from backup to workhorse goaltender in the span of a few months, Brianna Sank has embraced her new role this season and impressively given the Griffins women's hockey team a chance in every game so far.
With a 2.50 goals against average and .906 save percentage, she's been the backbone of a team that's trying to take a step forward in their second season at the Canada West level.
"It's pretty good so far," said Sank, who has played all of MacEwan's goaltender minutes in four games so far. "It's been a challenge, but I think I'm up to it. It's been good and the team's been really good right now. We're just pushing. It's exciting."
Sank will lead the Griffins (1-3-0) into a weekend home-and-home series against Mount Royal (5-0-1) on Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena) and on Saturday in Calgary (6 p.m., both Canada West TV).
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"She was in a backup role last year with (Natalie) Bender around," noted interim head coach Chris Leeming. "This was an opportunity for her to step up and she's been really consistent in all the games she's played and every day at practice, which has made a big difference for her.
"The goals she's been beat on in most of our games have been screens or redirects on the powerplay. Those are a lot more difficult saves. She hasn't been beat on many clean shots, so she gives us an opportunity to be in the game every game she's played."
Sank was a terrific goaltender for the Griffins during their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference era, making the conference's first all-star team in her rookie season in 2019-20 when she recorded a .971 save percentage.
But the Canada West level was an eye-opener for her and everyone on the team as they transitioned to that standard in 2021-22.
"Definitely, the speed was the big thing for me and the shots – they move the puck a lot faster – so just getting used to that," said Sank. "The quality of shots was also different for me and just being aware of my rebounds. It's a faster game all over."
Brianna Sank has a 2.50 goals against average and .906 save percentage in four games so far this season, including at Alberta earlier this month (Don Voaklander photo).
Leeming coached against the Griffins during the 2019-20 season when he was at the helm of the Olds College Broncos, and he offers some perspective on Sank's growth since that time.
"She's just matured in her time here, I've seen that, and then there's the consistency piece," said Leeming. "One thing that stood out to me, too, after not seeing her for a couple years was her demeanour. She's so even keel. She doesn't get too up or too down.
"I think it's great for a goalie, especially, because of the role they play, but I think it models a good thing for the rest of our team, as well. When they get scored on, it can be a momentum change, but if the goalie's calm, cool and collected and ready to move on to the next thing, I think that's a good thing for the rest of the team to take a look at and try to model ourselves."
With 10 goals against in four games so far, she's giving the Griffins a chance in every game, but the blight on their body of work is the fact they've only scored five goals in that span.
"Definitely, the goals are going to come," said Sank. "It puts on us to just try and make every save. We aren't going to score 10 goals a game, so it's just trying to limit the goals against and just have faith in the team. Once we start playing more together, we'll have the opportunity to score more goals."
They come into a tough weekend challenge against undefeated conference leader MRU, but they have a confidence builder in their back pockets after taking the Cougars to a shootout in a preseason game last month before losing 4-3.
"For us, that was a point of confidence growth," said Leeming. "Of course, regular season is always different than the preseason because everyone's getting their reps and touches then.
"They're a skilled team, so we just want to really dive into our identity and be tough to play against and find a way to create some offence – getting pucks to the net, getting bodies there, and getting secondary chances that are going to give us opportunities to score goals."