Emotional encore for graduates continues as Griffins' deep bond on display even after tough loss to Pandas
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Team Stats
Alberta
| Game Statistics | MacEwan University | Alberta |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 2 | 3 for 5 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 6 (12) | 3 (6) |
| Shots on Goal | 14 | 52 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The emotional bond the Griffins women's hockey team has, deeply rooted in a family-like culture, was on full display as the farewell for five graduating seniors got an encore on Saturday night.
Things didn't go the way they planned on the scoreboard as MacEwan fell 6-0 to Alberta in their final game of 2025-26, but the tears were flowing afterwards for a different reason as Claire Hobbs, Rian Santos, Sydney Olsen, Robyn Short and Sydney Jack played the final game of their careers with the Griffins.
"It was a celebration when we were at our rink and this was the official last game," said Griffins head coach Chris Leeming. "I think it was pretty meaningful to a lot of these girls. Four of the five were part of the inaugural program to start in U SPORTS, so they have some significant contributions over their time here that help set the standard in a lot of those areas that helped set a strong foundation for the future of our program.
"Having had the opportunity to coach them and watching it in real time, I'm really grateful for the opportunity. I think they've done an excellent job."
That family culture can only serve to further the program's growth in future years.
"That's definitely one of our team values," said Leeming. "I think it speaks volumes to the connection we have and how close the team is. It's a lot easier when you win games. That's obviously a focus for ourselves, but there's quite a bit of adversity we've faced over the four years here. Everyone always leaves saying how close this team is.
"I think they've found a way to bond over that and become stronger, not letting things beat them that usually would. It's been cool to watch them develop that resiliency.
"I'm confident that's going to help the lessons the first, second and third years learn. That's going to be something that becomes more of an asset or benefit for us as we move forward here."
On Saturday, the regular season finale was mostly all Alberta as the Pandas outshot the Griffins 52-14. They had far more to play for with second place in the West Division theirs if they won and likely not if they lost. Alberta (12-9-7) finished a point ahead of Trinity Western (14-12-2) and will host a quarter-final series next weekend vs. Manitoba.
"When you compare tonight's game to last night's, they had a little bit more jump and we didn't have quite as much," said Leeming. "They came out hard and Mik (Christmann) had 50-plus shots again. I know she's had a couple of those games now. Their powerplay was just dialled and they were making it count whenever we took a penalty. That was kind of the story of it tonight.
"We had a number of chances like we did last night, too. Our senior line of Syd Jack, Chobby and Rian, even with Sydo and Rob on the back end, they were generating some good looks for us, and we were not able to score."
MacEwan finishes 5-21-2 and will head into the off-season trying to reload for another run at the playoffs in 2026-27.
"I'm proud of this group and the growth they've demonstrated overall," said Leeming. "We set a goal to live out our values and they accomplished it. That's on the back of the hard work and commitment that these student-athletes have to do every day.
"These programs don't exist without them. I'm really proud of the group that we had this year and I'm sad to see it come to an end."
NEW RECORDS: Goaltender Taya Currie, who backed up Christmann on Saturday, finished with a .933 save percentage for the season, which is a new program record, surpassing the .926 set by Brianna Sank last season … Megan Dolynchuk finished with a shooting percentage of 15.4%, which breaks the program's rookie record of 12.5, set by Ella Maternick in 2023-24 … Jordana Jones tied the program record for the best plus/minus by a Griffin in a Canada West season, finishing even in 11 games played, matching Shyla Kirwer's mark from 2021-22.
