Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Overcoming a nervous start, the MacEwan Griffins gutted out a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the cross-town rival NAIT Ooks in the opening game of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women's hockey best-of-five championship series on Thursday night.
Kyrelle Skoye scored 1:29 into the second period for the only goal the three-time defending ACAC champions would need as they rode the strong play of rookie goaltender Brianna Sank to a shutout at the Downtown Community Arena.
"It's always nice to take Game 1," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "It's a big win for us. It calms us down and kind of lets us step in and play with a little bit more confidence. That's the game we usually play.
"Big shout out to Bri Sank to come in as a rookie in her first ACAC Championship and made a couple critical saves for us."
On the day she was named the ACAC's goaltender of the year, Sank stopped 21 to earn the first playoff shutout of her career.
"It was pretty unreal," she said. "I thought our team really helped me out. They were great on the defensive end. It was really nice to get a shutout in my first (ACAC Championship) game."
The Ardrossan, Alta. product's best save came at 10:32 of the second period when she slid out of nowhere to deny Michaelia Kibblewhite's point-blank one-timer off a Wynona Creyke 2-on-1 pass.
"I really thought she was shooting and the last second she passed it over and the girl took a one-timer, so I got over there luckily and just got the right bounce," said Sank.
Brianna Sank made 21 saves for her first career ACAC playoff shutout (Jake Bradley photo).
It was the type of goaltending performance the Griffins needed on a night they didn't have their 'A' game. Although they outshot the Ooks 32-21 and were still full marks for the victory, the Griffins didn't really hit their top stride.
"Our emotional regulation heading into the game (needs to improve)," said McAlpine. "I don't think we were, by any means, out of control or took huge dips, we just played really nervous to start the game and it kind of just snowballed from there.
"I don't think we played our best game by any mean. But we've talked about this team throughout the year – probably the best in my time with the Griffins at finding a way. That was a perfect example of tonight."
Skoye's goal came on a MacEwan push early in the second when she chipped the puck out of a defender's skates and knifed it under the bar – the only shot that beat NAIT's Kaitlyn Slator.
"Honestly, I looked down and the puck was behind her skates," said the Griffins defenceman, who charged in deep off the point. "I stuck my stick behind her, and I think the puck just landed on my stick nicely. I just saw up top and it went in. I don't think there was much room, but it snuck in there."
Skoye and NAIT's Livia Lucova were named their teams' respective players of the game.
"Kyrelle's someone who has been snake bitten this year," said McAlpine. "She's quite an offensive defenceman for us and always rises in big games. She was arguably our best two-way player tonight – great for us in our D zone settling us down and then she put in the winning goal. I'm really excited for her."
Slator made several solid saves for the Ooks, including denying Shyla Jans in the final minute of the second period when the creative Griffins forward cut through two defenders and tried to deke her before she got a pad on the initial shot and caught the rebound.
With MacEwan up 1-0, the series now shifts to NAIT Arena for Game 2 on Saturday (6 p.m., ACAC TV).
The Griffins have some building blocks and lessons they'll take out of Game 1.
"I think we can take the positives – we came in waves," said Skoye. "Hopefully, next game we just come out a bit stronger. We came out with a little bit of nerves, but now that we have this one under the belt, next game will be a lot better."
Game 3 will go on Friday, March 13 (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, ACAC TV) with Games 4 and 5, if necessary, set for March 14 (6 p.m., NAIT Arena, ACAC TV) and March 15 (6 p.m., DCA, ACAC TV), respectively.
