Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Mental fortitude is everything for a goaltender.

The unique challenge within that for MacEwan Griffins women's hockey goalies this season is remaining sharp when the play is mostly in the other end.

So dominant have the Griffins been in 16 games so far, they have yet to be outshot in any one of them. They've even had three games this season where they've allowed less than 10 shots.

Two of those were shutouts for rookie goaltender Brianna Sank – an eight-save goose-egg at Olds on Oct. 24 and a nine-save blanking, also at Olds, on Nov. 28.

"It's nice having that support in front of me," said Sank. "There are some games where I only get five shots and it is hard to play in those games. But just knowing they're there for me (is huge)."

Head coach Lindsay McAlpine points to how calm, cool and collected she is as to why she's able to stay focused in games where the play is in the other end for the majority of the time.

"It's the type of personality that you need in the situation we're in right now," she said. "If you talk about another position, they get puck touches or they make contact with somebody, but to be almost out of the game and disengaged for 10 minutes at a time speaks highly to her mental game right now as an 18-year-old."

The Griffins (13-3-0-0) will put their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference leading record on the line this weekend against cross-town rival NAIT (10-5-1-0), who trail them by five points in the standings. Games are Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, ACAC TV) and Saturday (2 p.m., NAIT Arena, ACAC TV).

Sank has been a nice story for the Griffins so far this season in splitting time almost equally with third-year goaltender Natalie Bender. In nine games of action, she has a 1.40 goals against average and .917 save percentage with those two shutouts to her credit.

"So far it's been pretty good," she said. "I didn't know how much I would be playing coming in as a rookie, but now I am playing quite a bit.

"It's surprising, but I think I've done pretty well in the games I've played. It is a lot different than midget hockey and I think it was a good step up."

Sank was in the net when the St. Albert Midget AAA Slash won their third-straight Esso Cup last April, so she's used to big games.

"She had a tough game in one of the round robin games at nationals," noted McAlpine. "I'm quite close with her midget AAA coach (Doug Auchenberg), who said she was like 'give me the shot (in the final). I can win this for us.' She went in and did it and played lights out.

"That was the one thing he said over and over again in the recruitment process is you know exactly what you're going to get with Sank and he was right. That's something, day in, day out, we know what we're going to get. She puts in the work, has a smile on her face and doesn't get too high or too low ever."

It helps that she has goaltending in her blood. Dad David Sank grew up playing the position in Fort Saskatchewan and remains a sounding board for advice.

"He helps me a lot," said Brianna Sank. "He comes on the ODR and helps me with goalie skills."

She's also had plenty of other goalie-specific training, including at ATC Goaltending, with Kurtis Mucha and now with current women's hockey goaltending coach Blair Faulkner.

Her training continues to prepare her for all situations, including staying sharp without the high volume of shots in a game.

"I think the thing that she does best for us is we're a team that plays the majority of the game in the offensive zone," said McAlpine. "When the puck does get in the defensive zone, when we have times of sustained pressure against, she's always calm, cool and collected. Her facial expression doesn't change much, her body language doesn't change, the tone in her voice doesn't change. Especially as a rookie that's hard to do, so she's been doing a great job in her emotional composure."

Heading down the stretch of the ACAC regular season, the Griffins are in the driver's seat for first place, four points up on Red Deer College and five up on NAIT.

"I'd say we've put distance, but it's very minimal at this point," said McAlpine. "We have eight games left, but four of them are against Red Deer or NAIT, so it's a really critical matchup this weekend.

"It's really fun to play NAIT. We love the emotional high that comes with it. It's something we have to be cautious to manage well. I think the girls are ready. They've had a good couple of weeks of work, so it should be a fun Friday and Saturday."