Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Saturday night by the numbers for the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team read like this:
Two textbook Chantal Ricker tallies.
One Senior Night celebration.
Zero goals on Natalie Bender.
And a 3-0 win over the Red Deer College Queens at the Downtown Community Arena, which led to some more numbers:
It's MacEwan's 13th victory in a row and 20th on the season – the most any Griffins team has had in two decades of play in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
It's also just one shy of matching the ACAC record of 21 wins posted by the Mount Royal University Cougars in 2010-11.
The Griffins will have a chance to match that mark in Red Deer on Sunday when they visit the Queens in the rematch (1 p.m., ACAC TV). That will also be the final regular season game for six graduating seniors – Morgan Casson, Shyla Jans, Jordyn Reimer, Karlie Bell, Carley Jewell and Kennedy Davidson – who were feted prior to Saturday's contest.
"Definitely we were playing for the fifth years," said Ricker. "I have two fifth-years on my line (Casson and Reimer), so I wanted to play for them today because it's one of their last games, which is so emotional."
The Griffins ended up outshooting the Queens 44-21, despite not really finding their top level in a contest that meant nothing in the standings after they already wrapped up first place.
"It wasn't our ideal game in any period or any of the zones, but I thought it's great when we can play at that level and get away with a 3-0 win against Red Deer," said head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "I think the confidence piece is what we'll carry forward.
"Our girls are good at understanding the importance of every game in this league and the importance of that emotional confidence heading into the playoff series," she added. "Knowing that this it; we've got the game tomorrow, then a bye before playoffs start and everything's on the line, our girls are ready."
Ricker drove the bus for the Griffins on Saturday with two second period goals scored in textbook Chantal Ricker fashion – in tight around the net.
She tipped in Jaime Erickson's hard low back-side point blast 5:21 into the second period to open the scoring and then scored on a wraparound just over six minutes later.
"I haven't scored a wraparound this year yet," she said. "The whole team always jokes about the 'Ricky Wrap' because I used to do it in my first year. It was pretty fun to do that."
Her gritty play in the crease set the tone for the Griffins as it often does. Ricker now has 35 career goals for MacEwan, just three back of teammate Shyla Jans, who holds the program lead.
"That's what's she's great at," said McAlpine. "We kind of saw her get away from that against Olds, but it doesn't take her long to find that stride again. She was exactly what we needed her to be tonight and I hope she can continue that into the playoff run."
Breanna Golosky sent a scintillating down-low cross-crease pass to Jessi Rampton for a tap in with 5:22 left in the contest to give MacEwan a 3-0 lead.
Jessi Rampton taps in MacEwan's third goal on Saturday night (Joel Kingston photo).
Bender netted the 11th shutout of her Griffins career – and third in four games against the Queens this season – with a 21-save effort. Her best stop came off a Brooklyn Rowley rebound attempt in a third-period goalmouth scramble.
Karlee Fetch made 41 saves for the Queens.
In the end, the win will go down as a fitting tribute to MacEwan's six seniors.
"It's awesome our team came out and played the way we did and got them the win," said McAlpine. "It's a really tough group to lose heading into our next daunting task of Canada West, but I think the foundation they've laid for this program as a whole will be carried right through into the future."
