Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Back-to-back-to-back powerplay goals within a six minute-and-change span in the second period helped the MacEwan Griffins turn the lights out on the visiting Trinity Western Spartans Friday night.
The trio of tallies were part of a Griffins scoring spree of six unanswered goals in 15 minutes of game play as the contest quickly turned into a blowout before it was 40 minutes old and ended 6-2 in MacEwan's favour.
"It's a big win and it's a big win to get into playoffs," said Griffins veteran forward Zach Webb, who scored the Griffins' second goal of the game. "We needed it bad, and we need a big win tomorrow to keep going."
The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Griffins that included a stretch of injury trouble late in the first semester as they improve to 7-14-0 and are just two points shy of Regina (7-13-2) for the final playoff spot in Canada West with a game in hand.
"It was a good effort," said interim head coach Zack Dailey. "I thought last weekend we had a lot of good things to build off of and it continued this weekend. I'm happy to see our guys get rewarded for the hard work and put up some goals."
After Trinity Western's Daine Dubois potted a rebound to open the scoring 12:11 into the game, David Kope scored a huge goal for the Griffins with nine seconds left in the first period to tie it, slotting a rebound off Neithan Salame's far-pad snapper.
M��|��GOAL!@MacEwanHockey wastes little time taking a 2-1 lead on @TWUSpartans as Zach Webb splits the D and goes five-hole on a breakaway less than a minute into the second period!@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/CX79IyygGI
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 21, 2023
MacEwan came roaring out of the gates to start the second period as Zach Webb took a Cameron Reagan feed, split the D and went five hole on TWU goalie Raphael Audet. It was the first goal of the season (albeit eighth point) for the Griffins' leading scorer last year.
"It's been a tough year," said Webb, who earned the player of the game belt from his teammates after a goal and an assist. "I've been snake-bitten a lot, had a lot of chances, so it's nice to get that one."
Not long after, Sean Comrie put the Griffins up 3-1 with the goal that would stand up as the game-winner when he flew in back door to stab a rebound past Audet.
Sean Comrie pokes a rebound past diving Trinity Western goaltender Raphael Audet for the Griffins' third goal on Friday (Joel Kingston photo).
Then the floodgates truly opened as Marc Pasemko slapped home his sixth of the season just 37 seconds later with the Griffins enjoying a 5-on-3 powerplay.
Ethan Strang completed the powerplay hat-trick for the Griffins, scoring at 13:41 when his shot deflected and blooped up in the air and dropped in behind Audet over the line.
"When you're struggling, you're take them however it goes," said Dailey. "Our team hasn't generated a lot of goals this year, so we'll definitely take them."
M��|��GOAL!
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 21, 2023
The floodgates have opened at the DCA as Ethan Strang makes it 5-1 for @MacEwanHockey over @TWUSpartans as his deflected shot goes up and in with 6:19 left in the second.@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/pZuvU6FdxZ
Strang made it two goals in the span of 1:10 as he crossed the blueline and wired one past Audet for a 6-1 Griffins lead, prompting TWU to call a timeout.
"I'm super proud of Ethan," said Dailey of the rookie forward who is now tied with Pasemko for the team's goal scoring lead with six each. "At the beginning of the season, I challenged him to play a little bit more structurally sound. He's definitely responded with the structure.
"His game has just grown every day. I'm happy to see the progress. I'm happy to see him get rewarded for his hard work."
From there, it was Ashton Abel's show in the MacEwan net as he made several key saves during a TWU third-period pushback that included a breakaway goal from Luke Spadafora on 15 shot attempts.
M��| FINAL
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 21, 2023
We've given you the goals, but here's the Ashton Abel highlight of the night - a ridiculous 2-on-1 stop - as @MacEwanHockey repels a late @TWUSpartans charge (15 third period shots) to post a 6-2 @CanadaWest win. Stay tuned for a recap.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/9AClQYh4xx
"He's the backbone of our team," said Dailey of Abel, who stopped 32 of 34 shots in the contest. "He gives us confidence. I can't say enough about him – just a calming presence. We're very fortunate to have him our team."
The teams will meet again on Saturday (4 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
