Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – Shyla Jans broke the program career goals mark in recording a hat-trick on Saturday night that led the MacEwan Griffins to a 6-1 win over the SAIT Trojans in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women's hockey action.
Jans now has 36 career goals, passing Colleen Gamache, who scored 34 in two dominant seasons from 2002-04.
The fifth-year senior forward also added two assists for a five-point night that pushes her program career points leading mark to 70.
"She was outstanding from puck drop," said MacEwan head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "She came to play tonight and was rewarded for it. We know that's a strength of Janny's game. She's an offensive player and just put herself in the right spot today.
"Her and Jill MacWilliam and (Jayme) Doyle – that line had great chemistry."
After Morgan Casson opened the scoring on the powerplay at 13:58 of the first period, Jans scored two goals within 11 seconds early in the second to break the record and put the Griffins up 3-0.
What she's been able to do since entering the program in 2015 is surpass expectations by putting in the work.
"Janny, I'm going to be honest, has done far more than I ever imagined as a player coming out of midget," said McAlpine. "I think she's someone that invests so much of herself to improve as a player. We've talked about her before, she's on the ice early throughout her entire five years, she's the last to leave the ice, she's the last to leave the warm-up.
"Her goal always was to leave the program better than when she came in and she's absolutely done that."
SAIT's Kelsey Patterson cut the deficit to two on a net-front scramble before Amanda Murray gave MacEwan a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Casson struck again on the powerplay midway through the third before Jans completed the hat-trick with 1:36 remaining.
With the result – the Griffins' 10th win in a row – they completes a weekend sweep over the Trojans and improved to 17-3-0-0, comfortably atop the ACAC standings.
McAlpine felt the team bore down on their chances better than Friday's 2-1 win over the Trojans in Edmonton.
"I sound like a hockey coach, but I wouldn't say there was a ton different," she said. "The opportunities we had; we took advantage of more today. Our passing, our playmaking and our awareness was better today. And I think as the game went on, our emotional investment got better."
SAIT wound up outshooting MacEwan 27-26, but Natalie Bender proved to be the difference for the Griffins in making 26 saves.
"Bendy had an outstanding game," said McAlpine. "She made a couple of really critical saves early in the game when we were trying to get our feet under us.
"She played great tonight – probably her best game of the season."
Cassidy Brown stopped 20 for the Trojans, who fell to 4-13-1-0 after the defeat and are two points shy of the final playoff spot, but with two games in hand on Olds (4-13-3-0).
The Griffins have a quick turnaround, headed to Olds for a match on Feb. 6 (7 p.m.) before hosting the Broncos on Feb. 7 (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena).
