MacEwan Athletics
CARONPORT, Sask. – Friday represented a classic trap game for the defending ACAC champion MacEwan University Griffins – a long bus ride to visit perennial non-contender Briercrest.
Although the result would seem to support that theory – a 2-1 upset loss – it certainly wasn't due to lack of effort. The Griffins thoroughly outplayed the Clippers – outshooting them 53-23 – and deserved a far better fate.
"To be honest, I wasn't unhappy with the way we played at all," said MacEwan interim head coach Michael Ringrose. "I didn't think we gave up much.
"The one regret we have is leaving it out there around their net and, in the end, we put ourselves in a spot where one play can be the difference in a hockey game and it was tonight," he added.
"We need to regroup and refocus on tomorrow, but you can't fault the effort tonight. The finish just wasn't there for us."
Austin Yaremchuk opened the scoring for the Griffins midway through the first period on the power-play, but they were unable to get another one past goaltender Dan Dekoning, who made 52 saves.
Josh Anderson scored twice for Briercrest in the third period.
Dekoning is the Clippers player with the most pedigree – he was Connor McDavid's Ontario Hockey League teammate on the 2014-15 Erie Otters – so he's a guy who is certainly capable of stealing games. But Friday's performance was a theft of the highest order.
The playbook on facing a hot goalie is getting more traffic in front and scoring some greasy goals.
"In the third period, I thought we did a good job – generated lots of net presence and lots of traffic, but early in the game we certainly had opportunities to play in those hard areas that we passed on," said Ringrose.
"That's what I'm talking about when I say you put yourself in a spot where one play can beat you. You do that by not doing the right things for the whole game.
"All in all, we played well," he added. "It's just a tough night and sometimes that happens."
The defeat snaps MacEwan's six-game winning streak and drops them from second to fourth in the ACAC standings at 8-5-0.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (1 p.m. MT, ACAC TV).
