The Golden Bears work the puck around in front of MacEwan netminder Zac Onyskiw on Friday night (Graeme Kelly photo).
The Golden Bears work the puck around in front of MacEwan netminder Zac Onyskiw on Friday night (Graeme Kelly photo).
October 11, 2025

Griffins get away from solid first period play under snowballing scoreboard, fall 7-1 to Bears

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Sometimes the scoreboard isn't the result of how you play.

But sometimes you can play as a result of the scoreboard.

Both things were true for the Griffins men's hockey team in a tough 7-1 loss to cross-town rival Alberta on Friday night at Clare Drake Arena.

"First period was a bit strange," said MacEwan head coach Zack Dailey, whose team outshot the Golden Bears 14-13 in the opening frame, but found themselves trailing 3-0. "I actually thought we played pretty good, but we were down. So, it was just a bit of a strange period."

But things just kept getting worse for MacEwan. They were down 5-0 after 40 minutes.

"We had an opportunity to right the ship in the second and we came out a little bit flat," said Dailey. "They definitely raised their game and started to skate a little bit. They outskated us, outcompeted us. 

"At the end of the day, I just think we gave up way too many shots from the heart of our D zone, which is something we're supposed to be limiting, so obviously, there were some mistakes that were made."

Suddenly in the third it was 7-0 under a snowball effect.

"Obviously, they're a great team and they put more pressure on us as the game went on," said Dailey. "I don't think we did a very good job of handling the pressure and I also think that our effort and energy level went down as the game went on. 

"Things weren't going our way and I just don't think we were a mentally tough group where we worked no matter what. I think we let the score dictate our effort."

With the result, Alberta is now 3-0-0, while MacEwan drops to 1-2-0 on the young Canada West season.

If there was a positive moment to be pulled out of the affair for the Griffins, rookie Keaton Dowhaniuk scored his first career Canada West goal with 17 seconds left when his point blast past a screen eluded Alberta netminder Drew Sim, who had come on in relief of starter Ethan Kruger for the final 13:37.

"It was a good shot and a good screen in front," said Dailey. "I'm happy for him. But definitely a little too late."

Dailey also noted they can build off their play in the first period, which was at least a few small moments of playing the game the right way.

"Our O zone play to start the game, I thought we did some really good things," he said. "When we play a certain way, we were quite successful. But I thought for whatever reason we got away from that."

Rookie Griffins goaltender Zac Onyskiw made 29 saves in his Canada West debut, while Kruger stopped all 27 he faced for Alberta, and Sim saved five of six in relief.

The Griffins will flush it and try for a better result in Saturday's rematch, which is also their home opener (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).

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