Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
LAC LA BICHE, Alta. – The MacEwan Griffins were clicking so well offensively on Friday night, they scored five times on the power play and that was only HALF of their goal production.
A total of 15 different Griffins players netted at least one point as the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference defending champions romped to a 10-0 win over the Portage College Voyageurs.
Remarkably, leading scorer Ryan Baskerville wasn't one of them. That's just how impressive the Griffin's depth is.
"In my mind, that's our identity as a group," said MacEwan head coach Michael Ringrose. "We don't see ourselves as having a first line through a fourth line. We just like the fact that we can roll whatever unit out on the ice and feel comfortable they're going to get the job done."
Not that they needed goaltender Marc-Olivier Daigle to be perfect on a night with that level of offence, but he was anyway, making 16 saves for his third-straight shutout.
That runs his school record shutout streak to 216:15 – a mark that stretches all the way back to the second period of MacEwan's 3-1 loss to NAIT on Nov. 24.
"He's been very good to start the second half, that's for sure," said Ringrose, noting Daigle had to make a couple of tough saves in each of the first and third periods on Friday to preserve the goose-egg.
Offensively, Jacob Schofield, Nicolas Correale and Stefan Danielson all scored twice for the Griffins, while Kaelan Holt had a goal and two assists, and Brett Smythe had three helpers.
Andrew Kartusch, Brett Njaa and Tyler Morrison each had two-assist efforts, while Dallas Smith and Nakehko Lamothe had a goal and an assist each.
Cam Gotaas also scored for MacEwan, while Nolan Yaremchuk, Garan Magnes, Ryan Hartman and Austin Yaremchuk hit the scoresheet, too, with one assist each.
"For the most part our detail was good – a lot of second efforts tonight, hard on pucks, we got into shooting lanes," said Ringrose. "Those intangibles I've been talking about since we've been back in the second half were definitely front and centre tonight and were a big reason why we were able to have some success.
"From a coaching perspective, I was happy with the effort tonight."
The Griffins will welcome the Voyageurs in the second half of the series on Saturday (6 p.m., Downtown Community Arena).
