Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After accumulating a league-low 303 penalty minutes during the 2024-25 regular season, the MacEwan Griffins were awarded the Canada West Men's Hockey Fair Play Award on Tuesday.
It's the first time the Griffins have earned the honour since joining U SPORTS in 2021. And it's also the first time the MacEwan men's hockey team has earned a Canada West Major Award.
Averaging 10.82 penalty minutes a game – the second-lowest rate Canada West has seen in the past nine seasons – marked a shift towards a more disciplined approach for the Griffins, who qualified for the playoffs in third place in the East Division.
"I guess it was just a discipline thing," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "We talked about how we wanted to play hard and physical and be hard to play against, but we didn't want to take a bunch of penalties. That's a testament to our guys maintaining that hard style of play and still being respectful and playing within the lines.
"I'm proud of those guys for that accomplishment. Any time you stay out of the box and aren't taking a bunch of minors, you're giving yourselves a better chance to win. It shows guys' commitment to playing hard but wanting to win games."
It's the lowest penalty minutes/game average the Griffins have had since joining Canada West in 2021 (although they had only 267 PIMs in 2021-22, it was in 20 games – a 13.35/game rate).
In 2022-23, the Griffins hit 488 penalty minutes in 28 games, but over the past two seasons have tightened up their approach, reducing their time in the box to 345 in 2023-24 before this season's even lower numbers.
Their 303 PIMs topped Mount Roya's 316 for the Fair Play Award.
"We have a plan, and our guys buy into what we're trying to do as a group," said Dailey. "You can see that. We wanted to be a team that wasn't in the box a bunch and they committed to doing that. That means they had to eat punches and cheap shots. We were unhappy with calls but had to stay off referees.
"It definitely shows a bunch of self-discipline from the group in getting that award."
The 2024-25 Griffins men's hockey team (Rebecca Chelmick photo).
