Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Just after they'd arrived at the rink for their final home game of the regular season, the MacEwan Griffins found out they'd clinched a playoff spot for a second consecutive year.
The time stamp: 3:09 p.m.
The place: Winnipeg
The moment: Alberta beat Manitoba 7-4 to satisfy MacEwan's magic number of one for clinching the third and final playoff spot in the Canada West East Division.
With the Bisons five points back and only two games remaining, the race was over before the Griffins played host the Calgary Dinos at 5 p.m. at the Downtown Community Arena.
"I actually didn't know before the game," said veteran forward Liam Ryan, one of eight Griffins graduating seniors, who were celebrated prior to Saturday's contest. "That means a lot. That's the expectation.
"We're going to use this next week to fine-tune things and look to play a full 60 of hockey next weekend in Regina and let that fly into playoffs here. We can play with anyone."
They proved it again on Saturday, taking a 1-1 tie against the Calgary Dinos into the final few minutes before the visitors scored twice in 34 seconds and salted away a 4-1 win with an empty-netter.
The result denied MacEwan a chance to sweep the Dinos in a weekend series for the first time since they joined Canada West in 2021 after they beat them 3-1 in Calgary on Friday night.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season Feb. 14-15, the Griffins are 10-13-3, while the Calgary Dinos – locked into the third seed in the West Division – are 14-10-2.
Both teams will await their first-round playoff opponents – a visit to the No. 2 seed of the opposite division. For MacEwan, that will either be Mount Royal (20-6-0) or UBC (18-6-2). Odds are greater the Griffins will be heading to Vancouver to face UBC as the Cougars are two points ahead for top spot in the West with a pair of games remaining against three-win Trinity Western.
At this point in time, just being in the dance is a moment for the Griffins to cherish before moving onto the next goal.
M��| PLAYOFF BOUND!@GriffinsMHKY are going back to the @CanadaWest post-season for the second-straight year!
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 8, 2025
Following their win last night over @UCDinos, the Griffins clinched a playoff spot earlier today when @GBHKY defeated the @umbisons.#GriffNation
�� Jim Correy pic.twitter.com/2tWO4XqP7h
"It's big for our group and our program," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "It's nice to be rewarded for all the hard work. That's a goal that we made, which is great. Now the focus is on playing good hockey.
"We want to compete. Last year, we got swept (by Mount Royal). We played quite a good team, but we didn't feel we played that well. So, our focus now goes on winning hockey games. Making it is great and we're proud, but our focus is on trying to win and compete in a series."
For much of Saturday's contest, the Griffins showed how competitive they can be with a team that's only just over a year removed from the longest winning streak in Canada West history (the Dinos' 27-game regular season winning streak ended on Oct. 12 last season).
A lot of it was credit to goaltender Brett Epp again. A night after stopping 36 of 37 in MacEwan's 3-1 win in Calgary, the graduating senior stopped 25 of 28 on Saturday – many of those high danger – including stoning Jake Gricius on a penalty shot in the first period.
PENALTY SHOT
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) February 9, 2025
Brett Epp shuts down Jake Gricius on a penalty shot early in the first period, one of his 10 saves in the opening frame as @MacEwanGriffins are scoreless with @UCDinos through 20 minutes.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/HoWmLmwsh9
"Epp did give us a chance to win, he was great again tonight," said Dailey. "Unfortunately, we couldn't manufacture enough energy to make a push there for him."
Ryan opened the scoring on Saturday when he sped in for a rebound off Sean Comrie's point shot and wired it past Carl Stankowski 3:49 into the second period. The play was senior to senior to senior as Hunter Donohoe started it, netting his 21st assist of the season.
"It felt great," said Ryan. "I kind of ended up getting caught a bit up high, but I started wheeling and flying to the net. I think it was Coms who put it on net, and it was a perfect rebound that kicked out to me.
"I kind of gripped it quick and I thought the goalie would really be sprawling across, so I tried to wire it as hard as I could through the five-hole."
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) February 9, 2025
Senior - Senior - Senior
Fitting opening goal on #SeniorNight as graduating forward Liam Ryan scores on a rebound off a shot by fellow senior Sean Comrie, while graduating D-man Hunter Donohoe gets his 21st assist of the season.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/iRQAY3Z4FL
Dallon Melin tied it up less than four minutes later, however, off a one-timer down low off a pass from Connor Gutenberg from behind the net that he sniped far side on Epp.
The tooth-and-nail 1-1 game lasted late into the third period until Melin finally solved Epp again on a high-blocker side snipe from the top of the right circle with 4:48 remaining.
Calgary kept coming and made it 3-1 just 34 seconds later as Max Patterson drove hard to the crease and the puck spit out to Adam Kydd on the back side and he made no mistake.
Melin completed the hat trick into an empty net from his own end with 42 seconds left.
"You can't deny the guys' commitment," said Dailey. "They're committed, they want to win, they block shots, I just thought that our execution tonight was bad and that shot us in the foot. We were defending way too much and when it came time to push, we had absolutely no energy because we defended too much.
"We just turned over way too many pucks in the first and second period. We weren't able to get any offensive zone time, and we were on our heels all night. When you're on your heels all night and are relying on your goalie to be good, it can only last so long."
Stankowski finished with 17 saves for the Dinos.
"It was a little disappointing to not get the end result we wanted, but we had a pretty good push for most of the game," said Ryan. "I think we can definitely take a few lessons from this game moving closer to playoffs here.
"We're getting real close here. We just need to put a couple pieces together and play a full 60. That wasn't our best weekend."
MacEwan wraps up the regular season with a road series at Regina on Feb. 14-15.
Friends of MacEwan's eight graduating seniors hold up cardboard cutouts of their heads during Senior Night. Brett Epp, Hunter Donohoe, Liam Ryan, Ryley Appelt, Sean Comrie, Spencer McLean, Loeden Schaufler and Marc Pasemko played the final home game of their Griffins careers (Derek Harback photo).
