Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — The MacEwan Griffins have their eyes set on making the playoffs, and after this weekend they've put themselves right in the heat of the battle.
A big 5-1 win over the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday at the Downtown Community Arena finished off a weekend sweep, and now they're tied with the Regina Cougars for the final playoff spot in the Canada West conference.
Ethan Strang scored twice, while Merritt Oszytko, Loeden Schaufler and Marc Pasemko rounded out the scoring.
Dane Dubois scored the lone marker for Trinity Western in the loss.
Ashton Abel made 20 saves in the victory, as MacEwan improved to 8-14-3 this season.
"I'm really proud of our effort. Our season kind of depended on this weekend and they stepped up and answered the bell," said Griffins interim head coach Zack Dailey.
"The positive thing I'm seeing here after Christmas is we're getting better and better each and every period."
MacEwan trailed 1-0 after the first period as Dubois got the visitors on the board at the 11:06 mark. After being denied moments earlier by Abel on a breakaway, Dubois cashed in his eighth goal of the season, beating Abel with a quick snapshot from the slot.
"I challenged the group after the first period. I didn't think we did a good enough job setting the pace. I thought we waited and let them dictate the play" said Dailey.
Down 1-0, the Griffins came out in the second period more determined, and they simply dominated the Spartans.
Strang scored his third goal of the weekend, and seventh of the year when he potted in his own rebound to tie it at 1-1, just 4:51 into the second. Just 1:49 later, Spencer McLean fed a perfect pass to Oszytko, who made a slick deflection past Spartans goaltender Berk Berkeliev to give the Griffins the lead for good.
With just 2:02 to go in the second, Schaufler banged home a rebound on a two-on-one rush for his first goal of the season to cap off a dominant period that saw the Griffins outshoot Trinity Western 17-2.
Kole Gable gets a golden chance in front of Trinity Western goaltender Berk Berkeliev on Saturday (Joel Kingston photo).
"I challenged (the team) to set the pace and be first to pucks and winning one-on-one battles and I thought they definitely were up for the challenge," said Dailey.
"The second period was one of the best periods of our season at both ends of the ice. We took charge and really set the tone.
The floodgates stayed open in the third period as Pasemko gave MacEwan a 4-1 lead just 2:51 into the stanza. Strang would add his second of the game and fourth of the weekend at the 12:14 mark.
"At practice this week we worked on a lot of front net battles and getting to the hard areas, and it was nice to see the guys get rewarded," said Dailey.
"We scored a bunch of goals this weekend, and many were off of second and third efforts, which is nice to see."
Offensively, the Griffins were firing on all cylinders this weekend against the Spartans, as they outscored Trinity Western 11-3, and for Strang, he's been on fire scoring six goals in his last seven games.
M��|��GOAL!
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 22, 2023
The rookie is on fire!
Ethan Strang scores his second of the game and fourth of the weekend to give @MacEwanHockey at 5-1 lead over @TWUSpartans in @CanadaWest action.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/RbKRomo8gL
"That's my identity, I find. I love scoring goals, it's the best part of hockey. I just had to keep shooting and sticking with it and keep visualizing those chances going in," said the rookie forward from Cochrane, Alta, who now has eight goals on the season, already ahead of the program's single season freshman record.
Special teams played a big part in the Griffins sweep of the Spartans. They scored three power play goals on Friday, and they killed off all 11 penalties over the weekend series.
"Our PK is something we've struggled with most of the year, but we're finding our way these last few weekends. We've really challenged the guys, and our goalie has been good in those situations and our guys are committed to blocking more shots," said Dailey.
"It's very important if you want to win games down the stretch to have good special teams, and we're starting to see some good results."
The Griffins will stay home next weekend and battle the UBC Thunderbirds on Jan. 27-28 at the Downtown Community Arena.
