Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – They won battles, created chances and played for each other.
The only thing missing from one of the best games the Griffins women's hockey team has played this season was the finish.
In the end, they outshot the Trinity Western Spartans 30-25 and perhaps deserved a better fate than the 2-1 loss that greeted them at the final whistle.
"That's what it's come down to again," said Griffins' interim head coach Chris Leeming. "We outshot them, we created tons of scoring chances and put ourselves in a position to be successful, and just couldn't get the tying goal there.
"Overall, we just talked about winning as teammates. I thought it was one of our hardest-working games from start to finish all year. There was a sense of urgency from the drop of the puck all 200 feet of the ice for 60 minutes."
That's a positive development, given the Griffins are a long-term project bent on building into a Canada West contender over the next couple years after just joining the league last season. It all starts with cementing a culture.
"There was a moment after the game where one of the girls spoke up and said 'it really feels like we're playing for each other right now. We're playing like a family and we've grown a lot because of that.' " said Leeming. "That was pretty cool to hear."
With the result, the Spartans improved their playoff chances by moving to 10-10-3, while the Griffins' hopes are clinging by a thread at 5-15-1.
TWU went up 1-0 in the game on a fluky broken play that Griffins goaltender Brianna Sank almost stopped anyway.
"The first goal they scored on her, one of our D gapped up and stifled the shot and it took a weird bounce behind the net right to (Amy) Potomak and she's obviously not the one we want to get a wide-open net on a fluke bounce," said Leeming. "She kind of whiffed on it, too, and it fluttered and hit off the tip of Sank's glove. She almost made the save on it, actually."
After Reilley Kellner put the Spartans up 2-0 early in the second period, Shyla Kirwer got the Griffins on the scoresheet at 10:54 of the middle frame.
"It was a turnover in the neutral zone, and she kicked it out to Rian (Santos) and drove the net.," said Leeming of his captain Kirwer. "Rian stopped up and took a shot. Shyla redirected it from the slot over the goalie's glove."
Exactly the kind of goal the Griffins know they need to score more often. But it wasn't to be on this night as Kate Fawcett made 29 saves. Sank stopped 23 of 25 for the Griffins.
"We've talked about getting bodies and pucks to the net," said Leeming. "We want to take away the goalie's eyes so maybe something goes in, or we create secondary scoring chances by having some urgency towards the net."
That will be the goal tomorrow when the teams meet again (3 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
