A night after clinching home-ice, Griffins experience a letdown in 5-3 loss to Golden Bears
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
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1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Team Stats
Alberta
| Game Statistics | Alberta | MacEwan University |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 2 for 7 | 0 for 2 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 4 (8) | 9 (18) |
| Shots on Goal | 26 | 22 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — It had to feel like the ultimate high on Friday to a bit of a downer on Saturday for the MacEwan Griffins.
After clinching home-ice advantage for the first time in program history with a 6-2 win over the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday, they let a 2-1 and 3-2 leads slip away in a 5-3 loss in Saturday's rematch to wrap up their regular season.
Ethan Sundar, Myles Gauld and Carter Chorney scored for MacEwan in the loss, as the Grifins finished the regular season with a 12-11-5 record. They will host the Calgary Dinos next weekend in a best-of-three series (tickets go on sale tomorrow for the Feb. 20-22 contests, 7 p.m. each night).
Vincent Lamanna scored twice for Alberta, including the game-winner just over midway through the second period, while Justin Hall, Noah Boyko and Jayden Joly also replied for the Golden Bears in the victory, as they wrapped up their regular season with an 11-13-4 record and will go on the road to face the Saskatchewan Huskies next weekend in a best-of-three series.
"I was hoping for better execution and care level," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey.
"Obviously, there was no change in the standings, but there's pride on the line, and we missed an opportunity to put a pretty big stamp on the weekend."
Alberta took a 1-0 lead at the 7:41 mark of the opening period after Hall redirected a nice feed into the slot, but the Griffins responded in a nice way.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) February 15, 2026
Sprung on a breakaway by Brody Tallman, Ethan Sundar has his 10th of the season to tie the score 1-1 midway through the first period! @MacEwanGriffins#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/xQz33Vyytk
Just 37 seconds later, Sundar scored his 10th goal of the season when he was sprung on a breakaway by Brody Tallman and made a nice move to his backhand to beat Golden Bears netminder Ethan Barwick and knot the score.
Just 4:02 later Gauld scored his eighth of the year and 18th point when he finished off a nice tic-tac-toe play to give MacEwan a 2-1 lead.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) February 15, 2026
The @MacEwanGriffins go tic-tac-toe on the powerplay as Myles Gauld squeaks a shot five-hole to put MacEwan up 2-1!
On the goal, Gauld joined Keaton Dowhaniuk and Kadyn Chabot (from 2023-24) in a tie for the rookie single season points record at 18.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/0zkenNibkH
Gauld's 18th point of the season tied him for most points in a season by a rookie in program history with fellow first year Keaton Dowhaniuk and Kadyn Chabot from 2023-24.
The momentum gained from the opening frame went away in the second period, however.
The Bears scored another power play marker just under eight minutes into the middle frame, and after Chorney tied it up just 49 seconds later, MacEwan gave up the lead just 2:18 later.
"We had a great opportunity to cement a great weekend where we accomplished some big stuff, but things got away from us a bit today," said Dailey.
"I don't want to be too hard on our group, because we accomplished some great stuff, but I wasn't happy with today, I felt like we wasted an opportunity, and that's disappointing. We need to have pride every time we put on the jersey regardless if the game means something or not."
At times this year, the Griffins' discipline has cost them, and in Saturday's loss it reared its ugly head again.
Down by a goal, MacEwan tried to even it up, but they fell into more penalty trouble, and, while their PK units killed off five of the Golden Bears seven power plays, they gave Alberta three power plays in the third period, and that hurt their chances to tie it up.
"With any PK, if you give them tons of opportunities, you run out of gas, and you're not going to be successful, and today we were too undisciplined," said Dailey.
"Discipline has been an issue all year, and it was certainly there again today."
In a game that meant nothing in the standings for both teams, it featured a little bit of everything. There were some good moments for both teams, some sloppy play, too.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) February 15, 2026
Carter Chorney catches up to a long Brody Tallman pass just in time to poke it past the @GBHKY tendy. It's 3-2 @MacEwanGriffins midway through the second.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/dY5m7O1f7y
In the second period, both starting goaltenders were pulled. After Chorney's goal at the 8:35 mark, Barwick was pulled in favour of Drew Sim, and after Lamanna's second goal, Zac Onyskiw was pulled in favour of Carson Ironside, who made 32 saves in Friday's win.
Ironside stopped all 12 shots he faced the rest of the way, including back-to-back big saves starting with Lamanna's slot shot.
The Griffins came close to tying it late in the third, but Sim came up with a a five-bell save when he robbed Rhett Dekowny who was left alone six feet out in the closing minutes of the third.
Joly's empty-netter with 34 seconds left salted the game away for Alberta.
MacEwan certainly had a weekend sweep on their minds, but they accomplished what they set out to do, and that was to get home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
While it would've been nice to enter the playoffs with another W, they know they have to wipe the slate clean for next weekend.
"It would've been nice to come out with this one, but we accomplished our goal this weekend winning that first one and getting home-ice is massive. It's so cool to see where the program started and where it is now," said Griffins forward Brendan Boyle, who played in the final home regular season game of his career at MacEwan.
"When you're playing in a game that has no bearing on the standings, they can be tricky, but you have to find things to play for, and make sure we're in the shape we want to be for the first round.
"It wasn't our best effort out there today, but I know we will have a great week of practice, and we will respond and be better and ready to go for the playoffs."
MacEwan will kick off their quarter-final series against the Calgary Dinos on Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
