Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – Offensive production hasn't come easy for the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team this season, but on Saturday night, they committed to getting shots with traffic in front and it paid off with a 3-1 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans.
Joie Simon and Makenna Schuttler scored goals in the first 40 minutes before Rebecca Thiessen hit an empty net with 12 seconds left to salt away the win as the Griffins salvaged a weekend split in Canada West women's hockey action after losing 2-1 on Friday.
"Personally, as part of the coaching staff, we're really proud of them," said interim head coach Chris Leeming. "They set out in their minds they were going to do a job and they did that today. Overall, we talked about doing hard things and doing them for each other and I think the girls really got behind that idea."
With the result, the Griffins climbed to 6-15-1 in the standings and dropped the Spartans to 10-11-3, but they still trail Trinity Western by 10 points for the final playoff spot, albeit with two games in hand.
The win was an extension of what the team's been building, winning three of their last four games.
"We got better every period," said Leeming. "It's Game 2 of a back to back with a short turnaround. It wasn't easy. The first period was below our standards, in our opinion, and we talked about it between periods, and the girls rose to the occasion.
"The comment yesterday was they're starting to play harder for each other, more committed, sacrificing for one another, and we're starting to see the benefits of it."
Simon opened the scoring for the Griffins just 3:13 into the game as she pressured the Spartans' D into coughing up a turnover.
"The puck was on her stick and off her stick and caught the goalie off guard a little bit," said Leeming.
The Spartans tied it just over four minutes later as Kyra McDonald was the only one to beat MacEwan's Brianna Sank, who made 29 saves.
"She was pretty solid," said Leeming. "We talked about creating secondary chances and a lot of pucks that were directed at her, she held onto them and didn't give any secondary chances. She always gives us confidence every game because she makes timely saves. It allowed us to hold onto our lead, as well."
That lead came 15:06 into the second period when Robyn Short's point blast went off Schuttler and past Spartans goalie Kate Fawcett, who allowed two on 28 shots. Schuttler almost had an insurance marker, later hitting the crossbar on a breakaway.
After the Spartans pulled Fawcett for the extra attacker with 27 seconds left, Thiessen hit an empty net to ice it.
The Griffins will be on the road in B.C. again next weekend, visiting UBC for a two-game series on Jan. 27-28.
