Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
REGINA, Sask. – Freaky Friday spared neither one of the MacEwan Griffins hockey teams.
As the Griffins women's hockey team was being burned by one of the rarest calls in hockey at the Downtown Community Arena (READ MORE HERE), the MacEwan men were busy taking their skates off and walking to a different rink to finish the third period of their game in Regina.
The Zamboni carved holes in the ice at Co-operators Place during the second intermission and it was deemed unplayable.
Up 4-1 at the time, the Griffins added to their lead at the Brunswick Steel Arena in the Co-operators Centre, winning 6-1 over the Regina Cougars.
"I've never even heard of that before, so it was just bizarre," said Griffins men's hockey head coach Zack Dailey.
The impressive thing is the Griffins never wavered, despite the delay, putting forth their best 60-minute effort of the season thus far.
"The guys did a great job," said Dailey. "What we'd been talking about was trying to play the same way whether we were down or up. What I really liked is we had a lead going into the third period and instead of sitting back or cheating offence, we just kept it simple, kept chipping away. So, that was a really good job of our guys sticking to the game plan."
M��| GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) October 12, 2024
Loeden Schaufler has his second of the game!
3-1 @GriffinsMHKY over @ReginaCougars in #YQR#GriffNation @CanadaWest pic.twitter.com/C7RY9vnmYv
Both Loeden Schaufler and Kaydn Chabot scored twice for MacEwan, while goaltender Eric Ward stopped 33 of 34 for his first U SPORTS win.
"Ward was exceptional," said Dailey. "There were a few defensive breakdowns and he bailed us out. I'm really happy with that.
"I'm really proud of him and he definitely held us in that game."
M��| GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) October 12, 2024
Can't have a scoring spree without Kadyn Chabot getting in on the action. The @GriffinsMHKY scoring leader gets in on a big second period for @MacEwanU with his fourth of the @CanadaWest season to put his team up 4-1 after 40 minutes.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/XiUMryBazq
Marc Pasemko and Ryley Appelt also scored for the Griffins, while Spencer McLean led the way with three assists.
"I gave him an opportunity on the top line and he made the most of it," said Dailey. "Chabs got two goals and was really good. A lot of guys were quite good. Schaufler had two really good point shots. On those point shots, guys did a really good job screening and Schaufs was able to find corners.
"All around, offensively, it was quite spread out. A lot of guys contributed, which was great to see."
With the win, the Griffins improve to 1-2-0 on the season, while Regina is now 0-3-0.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (5 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
