Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – It was a big night for Chantal Ricker – pacing the Griffins with game-tying and game-winning goals – while Morgan Casson added two assists as MacEwan beat cross-town rival NAIT 3-1 on Friday night at the Downtown Community Arena.
After getting swept by the Ooks in their last meetings before Christmas, the Griffins exacted their revenge and extended their winning streak to seven games. The result improved their record to 14-3-0-0 and pulled them seven points clear of NAIT (10-6-1-0) in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women's hockey standings.
"A big focus for us was emotional consistency through 60 minutes, and I thought we did a really good job of that," said head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "With NAIT, it's always a game where emotions get out of control and I thought they did a good job of managing that tonight."
The Griffins looked revitalized coming off their bye week, dominating the play early on into the first period in a physical contest while constantly pinning the Ooks deep into their own zone but they couldn't solve Kaitlyn Slator on numerous chances.
Despite the Griffins' dominant first period where the outshot the Ooks 14-4, goalie Brianna Sank was called upon a few times to deny Ooks chances, including a shorthanded breakaway where she made a great pad save on a deke.
"In a game where you only face 14 shots, it's tough to stay emotionally engaged in it," said McAlpine. "She's always a calm presence for us in the back(end) and she did a really good job against a team like NAIT."
But just 1:35 into the second period, the Ooks capitalize on a scramble in front as captain Brittney Savard tucked it into the empty cage to open the scoring.
Despite a pushback from the Griffins, they had trouble solving Slator, but Sank was equally as sharp in the second frame making a few big saves, highlighted by a huge blocker stop on a two-on-one break.
With five minutes left in the second period, Ricker would finally get the Griffins on the board, sniping one low glove side after a beautiful feed from Casson.
"She made some really good passes to me," said Ricker. "She makes it so easy – I feel she just knows where I am (on the ice) every time."
There was no love lost between the bitter rivals as both teams wouldn't give the other an inch in a physical affair, culminating in a five-minute major against NAIT's Bre Martin for kneeing late in the second period.
Once again, the Griffins poured on the pressure in the second period, firing 18 shots towards Slator to the Ooks six shots but went into the second intermission knotted at 1-1.
But with 10 minutes left in the third period, Ricker scored her second goal of the night, banging home the rebound off a Casson shot to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead.
"They were firing on all cylinders," said McAlpine on Ricker's and Casson's play tonight. "They capitalized twice for us – her and Morgan have done this in previous years and they're just building right now and (hopefully) that continues into the playoffs."
Sank made a few key stops late in the game when the Ooks were pushing for the equalizer before Amanda Murray sealed the game when she stole the puck and put it in the empty net.
Sank needed just 13 saves in the victory while Slator made 38 stops on the night.
The Griffins will look for the weekend sweep against their cross-town rivals in the rematch on Saturday (2 p.m., NAIT Arena, ACAC TV).
