Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – It can be a blessing in hockey to receive five-straight powerplays.
But the flip side of that coin if you don't score on any of them is that there's often a massive body-slamming momentum shift coming full force against you.
The MacEwan Griffins were steam-rolled by that effect during a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Dinos on Friday night.
"We had a chance to open the game up in the first period with five-consecutive powerplay opportunities and we didn't capitalize on one," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "That set us back big time. After Calgary killed that last penalty, they took a huge momentum swing and took control of the game all the way through the second period."
By that time it was already 2-0 for the Dinos, who jumped out to the lead on second period tallies by Sage Desjardins and Taylor Beck.
The irony for the Griffins is the script was flipped from last Saturday when the Griffins beat Regina 2-1 by killing off six penalties.
"It felt like we were looking at it through the opposite lens tonight," said McAlpine. "PK builds huge momentum for a team. That's exactly what Calgary did – they had a great kill, credit to them and responded shortly after with a goal."
However, the Griffins reset in the second intermission and shifted the momentum back in their favour.
"We played our best hockey of the game in the first 10 minutes of the third," said McAlpine. "We pushed hard. Amanda Murray scored a nice goal. We had good puck possession and she scored a nice one from the top of the circles – a high wrist shot in the top corner. That gave our team some good burst.
"Unfortunately, we took a penalty and they came back and capitalized on the powerplay. That took the wind out of our sails a little bit. We just couldn't find a way to put another one in."
Indeed, after Calgary's Kate Wagner made it 3-1 with 8:21 left, it was curtains for MacEwan.
With the result, both the Griffins and Dinos are now 1-2-0 in the standings.
Natalie Bender made 28 saves for the Griffins, while Durante also stopped 28 for the Dinos.
The teams will meet in the rematch on Saturday night (6 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
