Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Months of scouring Western Canada for the right goalkeeper, MacEwan Griffins head coach Adam Loga has his guy.

In a commitment that came together in late June, Loga is adding Vancouver native Ekhtiar Nijjar to the roster for the 2022 Canada West season.

"We were able to get Ekie referred to us by Steve Millar because he was their goalkeeper with their U21 championship team there with (previously announced Griffins recruit) Tommy (Millar). He was being pursued by a couple universities in Canada West. When he caught wind that Tommy had signed here and what we were about at MacEwan, he sent us quite a bit of video because we were being very particular. This is a very important position for us. 

"Our goalkeeper coach Darryl (Kaluzniak) took long looks at all the videos and said 'he's good to go. Let's get him signed.' "

Nijjar recently backstopped Fusion FC to the Vancouver Metro Soccer League U21 championship with Millar and Sidhu as his teammates. They'll have an instant connection on the Griffins.

"It's going to help him transition as he moves away," said Loga. "He can look left and right and see some some comfort there. And they're Fusion teammates that won together as well. That's always a positive to bring guys in from a winning culture."

Nijjar will push returning goalkeepers Josh Stayko and Mason Perras for starts.

"The feedback on him was good – good shot blocker and good size," said Loga. "I think he comes in at 6-1. Most importantly, we like to play out the back and play possession-based footy. His distribution and feet are decent. We found that was very tough to find. He brings that to the table."