Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – With their offensive attack looking the most assertive it has been all season, it seemed like the Griffins were going to turn a corner towards the win column on Thursday night.

Instead, their normally dogged, determined defensive style disappeared.

That led to an eight-and-a-half-minute stretch in the second period where they allowed four goals against as the game devolved into a lopsided 6-2 loss to the visiting Mount Royal University Cougars on a snowy night at the Downtown Community Arena.

"One of our number one defensive game keys, we didn't execute it handful of times and it resulted in two goals against, for sure, and a number of scoring chances against," said Griffins head coach Chris Leeming. "We didn't put up a ton of shots tonight, but it's great we got some more offensive looks. But we've got to do it the full 200 feet of the ice."

Mount Royal outshot MacEwan 28-19 in a game that was much closer than the score indicates.

Nevertheless, the result drops the Griffins to 2-14-3 in the Canada West standings, while MRU improves to 14-4-3.

Joie Simon was the biggest bright spot for the Griffins as she scored a gorgeous bar-down snipe on a short-handed breakaway in the second period to become the program's new career Canada West points leader with 20, passing teammate Allee Isley and former Griffin Makenna Schuttler. 

Joie Simon scores a gorgeous short-handed goal to become the program's career @CanadaWest points leader and matches the all-time @GriffinsWHKY career SHG mark!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/cTlfOduRba

— MacEwan Griffins Women's Hockey (@GriffinsWHKY) January 17, 2025

The tally was also her third career short-handed goal, tying her with Lauren Chiswell (2005-09) and Melody Howard (2006-09) for the most as a Griffin all-time, including the program's ACAC era.

"Joie's got a pretty high ceiling for what she's capable of doing," said Leeming. "Tonight, she really showcased that. She's got great speed, she can play aggressive, she can be fearless on the PK for us, and be difficult to play against because of those things. It was nice to see her play a game tonight that she has the capacity to play."

The Griffins started strong, holding the O-zone for the bulk of a wave of early shifts in the first period, eventually earning the first powerplay of the game 5:30 in.

Unfortunately, the best chance on that man advantage belonged to the visitors as Jordyn Hutt picked off a high-risk D-to-D pass and went in alone on goaltender Lindsey Johnson, deking her out for the game's opening goal.

Less than four minutes later, the Cougars struck again on a broken play as Allee Gerrard's shot from the top of the circle wasn't handled by Johnson, bouncing off her chest into a pile of bodies in front. Eventually, the puck squirted back to Gerrard, who buried it at 11:17.

Ella Maternick gets off a shot on Thursday. The Griffins fired 19 shots on net, which is higher than their season average, but still not enough to match MRU's offensive output (Derek Harback photo).

Simon's goal came 2:32 into the second period after she pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone after Jennifer Andrash's clearing attempt bounced off a MRU player, and sped in alone, beating MRU goaltender Katherine Holan over her shoulder.

But instead of the Griffins getting back into the game, they couldn't keep the puck out of their own net. 

MRU got goals from Summer Fomrades (shot from the point that went over Johnson's glove) and Abigail Borbandy (off-speed rebound goal that trickled in far side) within a span of 1:33 to take full control of the contest.

When Jordynne Hojnocki's shot beat Johnson at 11:52, she was given the hook after 13 saves on 18 shots in favour of Brianna Sank, who stopped nine of 10 the rest of the way (MRU's Jerzey Watteyne beat her on a five-hole rebound goal before the second was out).

Neither got much help from their usually stout defence.

"It's just having consistency with our compete with or without the puck," said Leeming. "Whether we're on the attack, we're competing consistently, putting that pressure on the other team and getting them on their heels. When we don't have possession of the puck, we've got a sense of urgency to get the puck back and we're defending hard. 

"It's just a matter of marrying those two things together and doing it consistently for 60 minutes. That's where we have some room for growth."

Jennifer Andrash hits the top shelf on a great shot in the third period! She finished with a goal and an assist.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/BQnH3EjjgI

— MacEwan Griffins Women's Hockey (@GriffinsWHKY) January 17, 2025

Andrash provided the other highlight for the Griffins in the third period when she circled the MRU formation on the powerplay, turned and wired a bar down shot over Holan's shoulder with the goalie down in the RVH position.

Holan, who is from Edmonton, made 17 saves for the Cougars.

"We got a couple good looks on some details that we've been working on in the O-zone and their goalie made a couple great saves, as well," said Leeming. "I can't take anything away from her."

The teams will meet again in Canmore on Saturday (3:30 p.m., Canada West TV, Telus Optik TV Channel 1997) as part of the Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada celebrations.