Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

You can never have enough big, physical shutdown defencemen on a hockey team.

As the MacEwan Griffins men's hockey team gets ready for its best-of-three ACAC semifinal series against the SAIT Trojans this weekend (kicking off Thursday, 7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena), they've made a big move for future success, too.

Head coach Bram Stephen, on Tuesday, announced that defenceman Jake Kohlhauser of St. Albert has committed to the Griffins for the 2017-18 season.

Following in the footsteps of his older brother Devin – a MacEwan golf team athlete from 2012 to 2014, who is now a linesman in the Western Hockey League – Kohlhauser will suit up for the Griffins.

He's an intimidating 6-foot-1, 194 pound blueliner, who looks after his own zone first and foremost.

"He's a steady shutdown defenceman. We've got some guys that fit that role, but we certainly need more of that, so that will really help us next season," said Stephen. "He's a big 6-1 guy. He's going to be a steady guy for us back there. 

"I don't expect him to be a big point-getter, but he comes with lots of experience. He played on four Western Hockey League teams in that stretch and has been a captain for two years in the BCHL. It's certainly one of the better Junior A leagues in the country."

Kohlhauser has 79 WHL games under his belt with four different teams – Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton and Saskatoon – over parts of four seasons. He played 25 regular season games and two playoff contests for the Oil Kings in the 2014-15 season.

For the last two campaigns, he has captained Powell River of the BCHL, recording 24 points in 92 regular season contests.

Recruiting captains for his roster is a trend that Stephen hopes will continue after bringing in former AJHL captains Taylor Mulder (Lloydminster) and Cam Gotaas (Camrose), and assistant captain Jacob Schofield (Drumheller) last fall.

"The intangibles that go along with that, you can't really put a value on," he said. "It's invaluable to us. We've really noticed it bringing in guys like Mulder, Gotaas and Schofield, who were leaders on their teams. It's noticeable right away. Even guys like Marc-Olivier Daigle, who isn't afraid to speak up in the room and has a lot of leadership qualities himself. 

"We identified that's something we were going to go after and it's starting to pay off a lot. Hopefully it will continue."

After Thursday's Game 1 against SAIT this week, the Griffins will travel to Calgary for Game 2 on Friday (7 p.m., SAIT Arena). If necessary, the teams will meet in Game 3 on Saturday (6 p.m., DCA).