Griffins aim to get offence rolling as they visit Trinity Western for two games this weekend
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Backed by the strong goaltending they've been getting so far this season, the Griffins women's hockey team will visit Trinity Western this weekend looking for their first win of 2025-26.
The Griffins visit the West Division rival Spartans on Friday (2 p.m. MT) and Saturday (4 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).
Lindsey Johnson is rocking a .912 save percentage so far this season, while Taya Currie is coming off a terrific 44 saves-on-46 shot performance last Saturday.
"The two that have played so far – Johnny and Taya – have been awesome," said head coach Chris Leeming. "They're making the saves that need to be made, and occasionally ones that they shouldn't. That's what you hope for as a coach.
"It just gives our group some poise in our D zone, knowing that if we do give up a Grade A scoring chance that we've got goalies that are there and capable of making the saves. We obviously want to lighten the load on them, too, and not give up as many Grade A's. That's a conversation we've had as a group. But it is nice to know those two have been playing well. Even Mik (Christmann), every day at practice is doing a great job. It's a tough situation, but it's good at the end of the day for us to have that situation."
The Griffins enter the weekend at 0-5-1 to TWU's 4-2-0 and will be looking to make up the gap in the West Division.
MacEwan has scored only five goals in six games so far this season, so that's been an area of focus in practice this week.
"I think the biggest thing we need to do is generate more offence – so getting pucks and bodies to the net," said Leeming. "We've been focusing on those details a little bit more this week in practice, so looking for that to translate into the games this weekend. That's going to give us an opportunity to be a little bit more successful. If we can score on the powerplay and maybe some five-on-five goals, that's going to put us in a position we can be happy with."
MacEwan has some momentum, coming off their first point of the season in a 3-2 shootout loss to Mount Royal last Saturday. Trinity Western last beat Saskatchewan 4-3 in overtime last Saturday.
"They're big, they're fast, they're skilled," said Leeming of the Spartans. "Our approach is we want to be physical and be ready to make plays quickly, too. We want to combat their speed and skill.
"That's what you want to do is play physical and not give them time and space. That's going to be a major focus and that's something we've been really dialled into all year so far."
