Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CAMROSE, Alta. – Preaching that the process is most important early in the 2019-20 ACAC men's hockey season, MacEwan Griffins interim head coach Sean Ringrose had positives on one hand and teaching points on the other after the squad suffered a 4-3 loss to the UAlberta-Augustana Vikings on Saturday night.
The setback comes on the heels of a 3-2 loss at home to the Vikings on Friday and drops the Griffins back to .500 (3-3-0-0) and into a tie for fifth in the standings with UAA and Concordia.
"It's a learning process," said Ringrose. "We're a young group and we did some really good things this weekend in terms of our play. There were times we strayed from the game plan and we didn't compete in the hard areas of the ice, and it ultimately cost us a couple goals. We're still working through some things on our special teams as well.
"It is a process that we go through and we're just trying to get better each weekend. Even though the results weren't in our favour this weekend, I thought that we did play a lot of solid hockey, which is positive for the group. On the other side, we've got some things to shore up moving forward as a group. We'll continue to grow and improve."
Much like Friday when they lost a 2-0 lead to UAA – falling 3-2 on two quick third-period goals against – the Griffins held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, but saw their fortunes falter by getting outscored 3-1 in the second.
"We kind of traded goals and leads throughout the game," said Ringrose. "They made a push in the second period and were able to get a couple goals and come from behind to grab the lead from us.
"In the third period, we made a push back and started throwing some pucks towards the net and creating some chances but were unable to get the equalizer."
On the positive side, rookies accounted for seven of eight points recorded by Griffins players in the game, led by Zach Webb's and Brayden Hyland's two-point efforts. Both Webb and Kole Gable scored the first goals of their ACAC careers, while Jordan Taupert also tallied with fellow rookie Chase Miller drawing an assist.
"All those guys had strong games tonight and it's great to see a number of guys contribute to our offence," said Ringrose. "We're a four-line team and we need everybody going. I think we're kind of at the point with our team where we're working on our consistency and trying to get everybody going each night.
"It's a tough lesson to learn when you're coming from junior: in a 28-game schedule you need to be ready to go every night," he added. "Our group's still finding our way how to do that a little bit, and even within the game finding a way to make sure we're playing the right way for a full 60 minutes."
Curtis Skip made 35 saves for the Vikings, while Marc-Olivier Daigle made 25 for MacEwan.
The Griffins will regroup and get ready for a pair of home games next weekend as Briercrest visits on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m., both games Downtown Community Arena).
