Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
VANCOUVER, B.C. – To be within a goal of the top-ranked team in the country in the final minute of the third period, you have to be doing something right.
That's exactly where the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team found themselves late in Friday's contest against the UBC Thunderbirds as interim head coach Chris Leeming pulled goaltender Brianna Sank for an extra attacker, down 2-1 in the waning moments.
Unfortunately, UBC hit an empty net and also added another with 12 seconds left to win 4-1.
"Sank had a really strong performance again tonight, kept us in the game," said Griffins interim head coach Chris Leeming of his netminder, who made 34 saves. "We had our goalie pulled and had a little bit of zone time, but we turned the puck over and it ended up in the back of our net."
With the result, the Griffins fall to 6-16-1, while UBC improves to 19-2-2.
"Without a doubt, they're a pretty strong team and there were times when they dictated the pace, but there were times when we were physical with them and had good second efforts, that we played a pretty good game, especially compared to last time," said Leeming.
That would be back on Oct. 28-29 when the Thunderbirds stormed into Edmonton and walloped the Griffins 5-0 and 4-1.
"We were a group of observers," said Leeming. "I thought the last time when they (visited) us, we sat back and watched the game a little bit. This time, we tried to bring our game to them. We played with a sense of urgency from the drop of the puck. We had a ton of blocked shots, there were a ton of second and third efforts. We competed really hard tonight.
"We're happy with that, for sure. Obviously, the outcome isn't what we wanted. With everything we talked about this week, I thought the girls executed really well."
After Rylind MacKinnon scored twice for UBC in the first 40 minutes, Rian Santos got the Griffins on the board 9:08 into the third period, redirecting a shot past UBC stopper Elise Hugens for the first goal of her Canada West career.
"The puck came out to the point, and she was just off the strong side post," said Leeming. "She redirected a point shot in. It was in and out of the net before the goalie realized it, I think."
The comeback wasn't meant to be for the Griffins as Hugens shut the door with 20 saves. Mackenzie Kordic hit an empty net for the insurance marker before MacKinnon completed the hat trick with a late tally.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (4 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
