Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Michael Ringrose has been following Zach Webb's career for a long time, stretching back to his days as head coach of the Spruce Grove Saints in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Some constants he's noticed about the forward – his game goes to another level later in the season and he's a linchpin for creating offence no matter what line he plays on.
"He's a guy that I was familiar with from my time coaching in junior and certainly a guy who was a key driver of the offence on every team he played on at that level," said the MacEwan Griffins bench boss. "We got the opportunity to talk to him and get him to campus last spring. He had some U SPORTS options that he was exploring, but when the news came that we were transitioning from the ACAC to U SPORTS, he was quick to jump on board and we were excited to get him."
Webb is showing both of those traits in the second half of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season for the Griffins, playing with Jordan Taupert and Colin Schmidt on an all-rookie line that has been wreaking havoc on the opposition of late. The trio has a combined for 11 goals and 16 assists in 10 second semester games.
"His pace of play has really come up," Ringrose said of Webb. "One thing we track is chances for and against when you're on the ice and since Christmas, him and Cam Gotaas are one and two on the team.
"Zach's a guy, who, historically, if you look at his hockey career, doesn't start exceptionally well but always finishes strong. To that effect, in the second half, he's really stepped up his game and provided us with a third really good offensive threat up the middle of the ice."
Webb will lead the Griffins (17-6-1-0) into weekend action against Portage College (0-22-2-0) – Friday in Lac La Biche, Alta. (7 p.m., ACAC TV) and Saturday at the Downtown Community Arena (6 p.m., ACAC TV).
Growing up in St. Albert with fellow Griffins rookies Zach Aston and Thomas Davis made the decision to come to MacEwan an easy one for Webb, who was happy to play in his hometown after an AJHL career that gave him a full tour of the province – from Drayton Valley to Lloydminster to Calgary to Grande Prairie. During his final junior season with the Storm last year, Webb finished among the AJHL leading scorers with 19 goals and 57 points in 53 games.
"I had a ton of fun playing in Grande Prairie," said Webb. "It's a nice place. I think it's under-rated for how fun it is to play there – a lot of fans, big rink."
He's having fun again at MacEwan where he's joined with a strong rookie group, including his linemates. Building chemistry with Taupert and Schmidt has been a big reason why he's enjoying success in the second half of the season.
"Getting used to people, knowing where they're going to be on the ice – I think that's a huge part of it," he said. "We have a guy in Colin who gets on the forecheck, he's a big body, hits and does some work for us. He's good in front of the net. Jordan's fast. We're similar in a way – small and a bit faster. He can score and I can pass, so it works out well. We're young and hungry to do well, so it's working out."
They represent three members of a strong rookie class that's 13 players deep. It hasn't always been perfect as they've gotten acclimated to the university level, but the strides they've taken will be huge in the team's attempt to win a fourth-straight ACAC championship before the program transitions to U SPORTS next season.
"It's nice to see them really start to come into their own," said Ringrose. "I talk about that 15-game mark all the time – it takes 15 games at the next level to really get comfortable. We're past that now and, true to form, these guys are showing the skillset, decision-making that made them elite players at the junior level.
"It's nice to have such a young group. When you have so many of those guys and they're all going through that and taking that next step together, it really gives you a push. We're excited for that heading into the playoffs."
The Griffins have four games remaining in the ACAC regular season and are one point back of Red Deer College for second place and a first-round playoff bye. Portage has yet to win in 2019-20, but they gave RDC all they could handle last weekend (losing just 5-3 and 7-6 in overtime), so the Griffins can ill afford to take them lightly.
"It's not a secret where they're at in the standings, but that doesn't mean the games are any less important for us," said Ringrose. "We need to be a mature group and understand it's going to take our best effort to best a team that is playing their best hockey of the year.
"In both of the games last weekend, they had Red Deer down well into the second half of the game. Full marks. Watching the video on it, they came to work, and they outcompeted Red Deer in a lot of situations, in my opinion, for a lot of the weekend. It's definitely a group that's playing their best hockey and we certainly need to be prepared to match their work ethic."
