Griffins focused on finishing chances ahead of home-and-home series against Mount Royal
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Team Stats
| Game Statistics | Mount Royal University | MacEwan University |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 6 | 1 for 4 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 1 |
| Penalties (min) | 4 (8) | 6 (12) |
| Shots on Goal | 28 | 28 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The amount of scoring chances that the Griffins men's hockey team created during their game vs. Alberta last Saturday was certainly enough to win the contest, especially considering how well goaltender Eric Ward was playing.
But for a third-straight outing, they were held to one goal or less.
Knowing full well they won't win many hockey games with one goal on the board, the Griffins have returned to the fundamentals of finishing chances in practice this week ahead of their next tough challenge: the Mount Royal University Cougars.
The two Alberta rivals will meet in a home-and-home series this weekend – Friday at the DCA (7 p.m.) and Saturday in Calgary (5 p.m., both Canada West TV).
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"Guys are eager to finish scoring chances," said MacEwan head coach Zack Dailey. "I think that was kind of the main focus this week. We've talked about goal scoring – where to place pucks in tight areas.
"I thought we've done a pretty good job of creating chances, but we just haven't scored enough goals to win hockey games recently."
Still, MacEwan is right in the thick of the Canada West standings at 1-2-1, while MRU is 2-2-0. The two teams met in preseason with the Cougars winning both – 5-2 in Calgary and 7-4 in Edmonton on Sept. 26-27.
They are an incredibly fast hockey team that is currently ranked eighth in the country. To beat them, the Griffins will have to match their work ethic.
"They're extremely well coached, they're a group that works extremely hard, skates well, makes plays under pressure," said Dailey. "But again, any time people are under pressure, the percentage of plays they make goes down significantly. Our biggest thing is putting pressure on people. They will make mistakes and if we constantly put them under pressure, our job is to capitalize on those mistakes. But for us, it's just applying pressure to these guys and making sure we're matching their compete level."
MacEwan's offence hasn't hit its stride since their Oct. 3 season opener 4-2 win over UBC, being shutout by the Thunderbirds the next night and only scoring once in a pair of losses the Alberta last weekend, the latter coming in overtime.
The good news is they're doing the right things to create the chances, it's just the finish that's lacking. They're snake-bitten, if you will.
"The biggest thing for me is if we're generating scoring chances, that's a really good indicator," said Dailey. "As stats will tell you, it will come. There are certain percentages that are quite common, so if it's low at one point or it's really high, it usually evens itself out.
"So, we're not getting too discouraged and are making sure we're doing the right things to create these scoring chances.
"And like I talked about, we're focusing on where we're putting pucks at the end of the scoring chance. I thought we created a lot, but a lot of those shots were either on the ice, which doesn't have a high chance of going in, right at the goalie's chest, which has a zero percent chance of going in, or missing the net. We've talked a lot about hitting nets and maybe creating more rebounds. We're going to focus on where we're shooting and having a purpose for every shot."
