Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Chasing glory in trying to become the first team in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference history to win four women's hockey championships in a row, the MacEwan Griffins plan to lean on their strengths as the best-of-five final begins Thursday against cross-town rival NAIT.
Depth, balanced scoring, a relentless forecheck, no nonsense defensive coverage – all hallmarks of a Griffins team which tied the ACAC record for the most regular season wins when they reached 21 in 2019-20.
"The biggest piece that we talk about is our team depth versus theirs," said MacEwan head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "I don't think that's a secret across the league.
"We talk a lot about MacEwan coming in waves. That's what we do well. When all four lines are going and all six D are firing, we're a hard team to stop."
Game 1 of the best-of-five championship series goes Thursday night (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, ACAC TV) with Game 2 set for Saturday (6 p.m., NAIT Arena, ACAC TV). The rest of the series will resume next weekend with Game 3 on Friday, March 13 (7 p.m., DCA, ACAC TV), and Games 4 and 5, both if necessary, set for March 14 (6 p.m., NAIT Arena, ACAC TV) and March 15 (6 p.m., DCA, ACAC TV), respectively.
"We always look forward to playing NAIT," said McAlpine of the final series, which is a rematch of last year when the Griffins swept the Ooks in three-straight. "Regardless of whether it's the second game we play them in October or Game 5 of a championship, there's always a very high emotional intensity in those games.
"I think it's something a little extra special this year that it's the last time potentially in history that we play NAIT and it's fitting that it's for an ACAC Championship."
That's because the Griffins are off to the Canada West conference in 2020-21 and they'd dearly love to finish off a 20-year history in the ACAC women's hockey ranks on a high note. MacEwan beat SAIT for the 2017 title, took out Red Deer College in 2018 and then dusted NAIT a year ago.
"We're really pumped up," said Chantal Ricker, the reigning ACAC playoff MVP. "This is going to be a big weekend, especially after last year. We just want to keep that momentum and win again against them."
To do that will involve relying on their championship experience and what's led the Griffins to an ACAC record 16-game winning streak entering the final.
"I think just going in with our emotions balanced, not too high and mighty, (will be key) and then keeping that team play intact," said Ricker.
"(It's important to be) going into the rink not being too confident or cocky – making sure we're there to play the game when the game ends and not give them any chances."
The Griffins won four of six meetings between the teams this season, beating the Ooks 10-5 on Oct. 11, 2-1 on Oct. 12, 3-1 on Jan. 24 and 3-1 on Jan. 25. NAIT won 2-1 on Nov. 15 and 3-1 on Nov. 16 – which was the last time MacEwan took a loss during the 2019-20 campaign.
Although both teams have different rosters than a year ago, MacEwan can also lean on their past history of success against NAIT, including the 2019 final when they won 1-0, 3-2 and 3-2 (OT) to secure a sweep.
"It was a really, really close series," noted McAlpine. "Every game was tight; every game was by one goal.
"The thing we'll lean on is our experience with success. I think a huge push for us right now is the number of fourth- and fifth-years kind of driving the engine for our group. We'll lean on them heavily throughout this playoff run."
NAIT (13-9-2-0 during the regular season) comes into the final fresh off a 2-1 series win over Red Deer College, which featured a double overtime series-clinching goal by Jordan McMillan in Game 3.
MacEwan (21-3-0-0) swept SAIT 2-0 after wins of 4-2 and 5-1 in their ACAC semifinal series.
"SAIT gave us a very difficult series despite what the scores look like," said McAlpine. "I think SAIT set us up excellent to play against NAIT. They're a physical team, they played hard, they were fighting for their lives in Game 2. They never stopped. It's something we're going to expect from NAIT right out of the gate and we'll be better prepared for it in Game 1."
