Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – On an emotional night where the Griffins women's hockey team paid tribute to former teammate Jordyn Reimer who was killed in a car crash last May, it was understandably tough to play a hockey game.
Following a pre-game ceremony where Reimer's family was presented with a copy of the banner with her No. 9 that will hang in the Downtown Community Arena rafters, the puck dropped on a tight defensive battle that went the way of the visitors as Alberta edged MacEwan 2-1.
"I think we just went to the mentality of play for Jordyn, win it for Jord," said Griffins captain Shyla Kirwer. "Obviously, we didn't get the outcome we wanted, but I felt we just rallied behind that idea and worked our asses off."
That they did and, truthfully, the contest could have gone either way. MacEwan outshot Alberta 22-20 but suffered through a three-minute stretch in the second period that cost them the game.
Alberta scored twice in the span of 3:13 in the middle of the middle frame and refused to allow the equalizer in the remaining 26 minutes and change of action.
"I think we just kind of let our frustration take over and it derailed our focus," said interim head coach Chris Leeming. "We had our energy in the wrong place.
"I thought we responded better in the third period and came out and got some scoring opportunities there. We just talked about consistency and playing for 60 minutes. That's where we kind of fell apart there and they scored two goals."
Joie Simon opened the scoring for MacEwan just 51 seconds into the middle period when she ripped a hot shot from the slot under the bar blocker side on Alberta goaltender Halle Oswald.
"That's a classic Joie goal – just got it off the half wall walked it in and put it top shelf," said captain Shyla Kirwer. "That's just classic Joie – just works hard all the time and she finally got success on that one."
Griffins players surround Joie Simon after she scored in the second period (Joel Kingston photo).
MacEwan rolled out a few more solid shifts after they took the lead but couldn't find another one before a gaffe getting the puck out of their own zone provided the opportunity Alberta needed to break down the Griffins' tight defensive shell.
Payton Laumbach jumped on a loose puck inside the line, strolled down main street and went bar down over Brianna Sank's shoulder.
That kicked off a wave of Alberta pressure that eventually resulted in a powerplay and the visitors made no mistake on it. Jada Livingston's point shot was tipped in the high slot by Madison Willan and past Sank for the game-winner.
MacEwan pressed for the equalizer throughout the entire final frame, but in a tight-checking contest, they didn't put enough pressure on Oswald, who finished with 21 saves for her second win of the season. Sank had 18 stops in a losing cause for MacEwan.
"I think we had a really good push at the end, and I felt we were just fighting for a goal there," said Kirwer. "We wanted it to happen, and we couldn't buy one at the end."
There are plenty of positives for the Griffins to build off of, though, as they prepare for Saturday's rematch across the river at the Clare Drake (2 p.m., Canada West TV).
"For tomorrow, we just need to take the moments where we were forechecking hard and just work off those," said Kirwer. "When we were doing our systems and working our game the way we wanted to, that's when we had our most opportunities."
Added Leeming: "That's our identity is hard work and competing for 60 minutes. When we have done that, we put ourselves in a position to be successful. When it doesn't happen, that's when we tend to struggle at times. I thought we created some scoring chances off the forecheck. We got some speed; we got some grit, and we want to continue to leverage that as one of our strengths."
