Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Natalie Bender was solid in making 28 saves, but couldn't get any run support, as the Griffins were blanked 2-0 by the cross-town rival Alberta Pandas in their first home preseason game as a Canada West team on Friday night.

The game was held at the Downtown Community Arena in front of no spectators in a decision made to protect the public and student-athletes from the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Alberta's Kirsten Chamberlin stopped all 21 shots she faced for the shutout.

The Pandas opened the scoring in the first period on the powerplay when Kalli Clouston ripped a point blast through traffic and into the top corner past Bender.

The veteran Griffins goaltender made several tough stops throughout the contest, including robbing Kelsey Tangjerd on a first-period one-timer and shutting down a dangerous net drive by Natalie Kieser in the third.

MacEwan had some chances to score in the second as Chantal Ricker slid a wraparound through the crease and Amanda Murray forced Chamberlin to make a tough stop on a tip.

But the Griffins failed to generate much on a four minute powerplay late in the second that carried over into the third. The Pandas came flying out of the gates after the kill and never relented, consistently hemming MacEwan into its end.

Finally, that pressure paid off with 13:06 left as their forechecking forced a turnover inside the Griffins' zone and Raeghan Yewdall sent a one-time pass over to Megan Wilson, who made no mistake from 15 feet out.

MacEwan will continue its preseason slate with a game against Calgary on Saturday (5 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).