Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – For a while on Friday night, it looked like UAlberta-Augustana goalie Curtis Skip was going to steal one.
The third-year Vikings tender stood on his head to keep his badly outshot team level with the MacEwan Griffins, 1-1 through 40 minutes.
But Sean MacTavish tipped a puck past him just 2:33 into the third period on the Griffins' 41st shot and goalie Christopher Wray made it stand up with several great late saves as MacEwan skated away with a 2-1 victory.
"We knew coming in he was a good goalie and as you can see he made lots of good saves tonight," said MacTavish of Skip's 45-save performance. "Both goalies played great. Chris, for us, was amazing.
"We knew if we got pucks to the net there would be rebounds available. The D did a good job today of getting pucks through, so we were able to get some sticks on them and they were able to find the back of the net."
In fact, both of MacEwan's goals were off deflections as Brett Smythe opened the scoring 6:35 into the contest when he tipped home Jacob Kohlhauser's point shot while lurking in traffic in front of Skip.
UAA tied the score at 11:16 of the first period when Mitch McMullin fed Adam Osczevski for a cross-crease one-timer that Wray had no chance on.
But the only reason the Vikings escaped the first period level was due to the play of Skip, who turned aside 23 of 24 shots in the opening 20. His work included forcing Taylor Bilyk to look to the heavens after robbing him blind with a point-blank glove save at 7:26 and then a sublime right pad stop on Ryan Baskerville at 4:18.
Although Wray only faced eight first-period shots, it wasn't as if he had an easy period. The fifth-year goalie kept it tied when he robbed Pat Thompson-Gale on a one-timer with 1:15 left in the frame.
"I thought that especially early in the game we didn't give up a lot, but what we gave up were Grade A opportunities," said Griffins interim head coach Michael Ringrose. "As the game wore on, we did a better job of minimizing those. I think Wrayzor only had to make eight saves in the first, but they were all good saves.
"As the game went on, I thought our commitment to doing the little things right got better. As a result, we were able to close the door when it mattered the most."
MacEwan appeared to score in the second period when Taylor Mulder hit the mesh with a one-timer off a beautiful power-play feed from behind the net by Brett Njaa, but the referee waved it off when the net mysteriously came off its moorings.
Skip was at it again, stopping Jacob Schofield's blast from the slot, but so was Wray as he had to shut down Cody Young on a breakaway.
After 40 minutes, with a 39-17 shot advantage and still mired in a 1-1 tie, Ringrose simply told his troops to stay the course.
"We just wanted to offensively focus on the process and stick with it," he said. "We believed in what we were doing. We were able to find success, it just wasn't going in for us.
"It's hard to mentally stay with it and credit to our guys for doing that and getting the result we were looking for."
The Vikings poured on some serious pressure late as they searched for the equalizer, but Wray shut the door. Travis Mayan had two whacks alone on the doorstep with 35 seconds left, but the Griffins tender kept it out with his left pad to finish with 25 saves.
"That's a good team and they're going to get their opportunities," said Ringrose. "Our goalie stood tall tonight. He was there when we needed a big save or two, so credit to him for standing in there, holding the fort and being the last line of defence when we needed it the most."
MacEwan (7-4-0) will travel to Camrose to meet UAA (7-3-1) in the rematch on Saturday night (6 p.m., ENCANA Arena).
