Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – On the surface, the moment looked heartbreaking as the Calgary Dinos scored the equalizer with 23 seconds left and beat the MacEwan Griffins 3-2 in overtime in Canada West women's hockey action on Friday night.
The reality is, though, the Griffins played one of their best games of the season – a masterpiece filled with gumption, guts, goals, goaltending and grit, even if the ultimate glory eluded them.
"I thought we played one of our top-two games of the year," said Griffins interim head coach Chris Leeming. "It was really impressive, and we were proud as a coaching staff to see the effort and how well they played.
"The outcome only favours one team. There are things that are in our control and things that aren't. We're going to focus on the things we can control."
MacEwan picks up a point from the loss and are now 6-19-2 on the season, while Calgary improves to 14-9-4, clinching fourth place and home ice advantage over fifth-place Saskatchewan in the opening round of the playoffs next week.
The Griffins took a 2-1 lead into the final minute on Friday before a tough penalty call with 40 seconds left, combined with the Dinos pulling their goalie, put them two players down in the waning seconds. Then, Brette Kerley sifted a point shot through traffic that beat Lindsey Johnson under the bar.
The Dinos won the game 1:49 into overtime on Sydney Mercier's tally.
"If we're going to hang our hat on the outcome every time, I think that's putting our focus in the wrong place," said Leeming. "I think shift-to-shift on 200 feet of the ice for 60 minutes, we played one hell of a game."
The Griffins never trailed until the final whistle.
Jennifer Andrash opened the scoring 8:28 into the first period after taking a pass from Amanda Murray and wiring it past Dinos goaltender Gabriella Durante low glove side.
"She got into a nice prime scoring area and used her shot," said Leeming. "She trusted it and got rewarded with it."
W��| FINAL
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 11, 2023
Kori Paterson put @MacEwanHockey up 2-1 over @UCDinos in the third and the Griffins were so so close to hanging on for the victory, but they will have to settle for a point in a 3-2 OT loss. Stay tuned for a recap.@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/MhPgUaGLUw
After Brooke Dennett's goal tied the game less than two minutes later, the contest remained deadlocked at 1-1 until MacEwan's Kori Paterson scored the go-ahead goal 5:33 into the third period.
"One of the things we've been talking about is we've started to get pucks off the wall into the interior of the ice and get good scoring chances, but we haven't been taking (enough) shots," said Leeming. "Kori walked in, got the goalie moving and used the D as a screen, shooting the puck back the opposite direction and beat the goalie low glove.
"It was a perfectly-placed shot on a nice transition play, and she capitalized for us, so it was a nice goal."
Johnson stopped 24 of 27 for the Griffins in her first start since Nov. 19, while Durante made 17 saves for the Dinos.
The rematch goes on Saturday in Edmonton (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV). It's the final game of the season for the Griffins.
"We just talked about building off what we did today," said Leeming. "I think they all know what it takes to compete and take away time and space and play for each other. As teammates, I thought we really committed to that."
