Currie solid in her debut as Griffins hang with top-ranked UBC before falling 1-0
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Team Stats
UBC
| Game Statistics | UBC | MacEwan University |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 4 | 0 for 6 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 6 (12) | 4 (8) |
| Shots on Goal | 23 | 10 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Jason Hills
For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON — Taya Currie certainly showed she could be one of the top goaltenders in the Canada West conference this season.
Making her first-career start for the MacEwan Griffins, the NCAA-transfer made 22 saves in a 1-0 loss to the high-powered UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night at the Downtown Community Arena.
The 20-year-old from Parkhill, Ont. showed no rookie jitters and looked more like an experienced veteran.
"I love that pressure, and playing against a team like that gets me excited. Playing the first place ranked team, I wanted that challenge and I wanted to have fun with it and enjoy the moment," said Currie.
"I'm a goalie that as soon as I get into it, I get locked in. The play was going fast, and I had my speed going side-to-side, so I used that to my advantage."
The only shot to beat Currie on the night was from Thunderbirds forward Grace Elliott — the reigning Canada West scoring champion who scored 22 goals and 42 points in 28 games last season.
After a scoreless opening frame, Elliott opened the scoring with 6:10 left in the second period. The fifth-year forward broke down the wing and snapped an elite-level shot over the shoulder of Currie for the only goal of the game.
"She has a good shot. She's tall and has a long stick. I thought she was going to go around me, and at the last second she decided to shoot. I'll give (credit) to her. That was a good shot," said Currie.
The Thunderbirds are perennial national championship contenders, and despite the loss, there were many positives the Griffins can draw from in their season-opening loss from the defensive side of the game.
One period in the books from tonight's @MacEwanGriffins home opener vs. @ubctbirds with the teams tied 0-0. Shots are 6-6.
— MacEwan Griffins Women's Hockey (@GriffinsWHKY) October 4, 2025
Here is one of Taya Currie's saves in the opening 20.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/YtFQBOkNw1
UBC averaged nearly four goals per game last season, and have the bulk of their group that finished with a 25-3 record last year. To hold the T-Birds to just one goal, and keeping their shot volume down is a big credit to MacEwan and how they played defensively in the season opener.
"We really came out to play. We knew who we were playing against. We played very physical and I thought that was a big part of our game," said Currie.
The PK units for both MacEwan and UBC were perfect, as the T-Birds power play went 0-for-4, while the Griffins went 0-for-6. MacEwan looked to be in mid-season form as they did a good job getting into shooting lanes and took away some good scoring opportunities by UBC.
"If we're not producing offensively, we have to make sure we're on our game defensively, and our team takes a lot of pride on the penalty kill," said Griffins forward Karington Mollin.
"Against a tough team like UBC… we have to put ourselves on the line for each other, and we may come out of the game with some bruises, but at least it was for each other.
UBC goaltender Elise Hugens made 10 saves for the victory and recorded her first shutout of the season.
The Griffins had some quality looks and opportunities to score on Hugens, but their shots would go just wide or just over the crossbar.
Early in the second period, Megan Dolynchuk jumped on a turnover just below the left faceoff circle and wired a shot just wide.
Later in the second period, Kori Paterson had one of the Griffins' best scoring chances of the game when she was alone in the slot, but her shot just went high over the crossbar.
After registering six shots on goal in the opening period, they recorded just two shots in the second period and two in the third.
"They're a great team, but we really have to bear down and get any shot on goal we can. Just get it on net, if we have to shoot it through some bodies to get the puck on net, that's what we have to do," said Mollin.
"If we have a lane to the net, we have to shoot it. I felt that (UBC) really had their positioning locked down, and we have to find a way around that. In the first period, we had some flow offensively, but in the last two periods it died down.
"It showed in our shots. The variation of it being too high or too wide, we were a bit panicky in that regard. We have to create more time to get that shot off, and faster."
MacEwan will wrap up their weekend series against UBC on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Downtown Community Arena.
