Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The hole was just too large for the Griffins men's hockey team to crawl out of on Friday night.
Down 2-0 3:23 into the game and trailing 4-0 by the 12:49 mark of the first period to the Alberta Golden Bears, the Griffins' valiant comeback attempt fell short in a 6-3 loss at Clare Drake Arena.
"Disappointing start from our group," said MacEwan head coach Zack Dailey. "That's something we talked about that we're ready to go right off the hop. And we obviously were not. Any time you spot a team four goals, you're probably not going to be successful and especially not against a team with that much talent. We really shot ourselves in the foot."
Alberta was winning puck battles, while MacEwan was turning over pucks early in the game as Tyson Laventure, Connor McClennon, Tyler Preziuso and Sean Tschigerl scored to chase starter Carson Ironside after just 12:49 and 10 shots.
"We fumbled a bunch of pucks, we couldn't handle pucks, we turned over a bunch of pucks," said Dailey. "So in situations where we're expecting pucks to advance, and guys are skating there and then they don't get there, we're left in not great defensive positions and they took advantage of that."
With the result, Alberta improves to 8-1-0, while MacEwan falls to 4-5-0.
Laventure scored his second of the game to put Alberta up 5-0 6:40 into the second period before the Griffins finally got something going.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) November 9, 2024
Marc Pasemko gets the @MacEwanGriffins on the board at Clare Drake, sniping it five-hole.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/z0t2Lu21vv
Marc Pasemko one-timed a Kadyn Chabot pass past Ethan Kruger just 16 seconds later for MacEwan's opening goal.
Then, Griffins rookie Ethan Sundar showed off what an elite shot he has by picking a tiny spot over Kruger's shoulder, sniping it bar down for his first Canada West goal at 16:16 – one he won't ever forget.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) November 9, 2024
Pure snipe by Ethan Sundar for his first @CanadaWest goal!#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/kmJmZ8bdIj
"He's been good for us for a couple weeks now and he's been rewarded with some time on the powerplay," said Dailey. "I haven't been happy with our powerplay, so I gave some new guys an opportunity and I thought they did a really good job tonight and were our best unit.
"There was a really good seam play made by (Brody) Tallman and Sundar had the patience to wait a guy out and roof a puck. Really good shot and a really good show of how talented he is. I was just happy that they took advantage of the opportunity they were given."
Mason Ward restored a four-goal lead for Alberta at 6:15 of the third before Vincent Scott finished off a nice give-and-go play with Pasemko with just 1:41 left for MacEwan's final tally.
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Hockey (@GriffinsMHKY) November 9, 2024
Vincent Scott gets a great give-and-go pass from Marc Pasemko and buries his third of the season.
This one will end up 6-3 for @GBHKY.
Back at it tomorrow at home (5 PM, DCA). See you there.
��️https://t.co/B1Dco83QGn pic.twitter.com/phjv8ZOBzN
"They showed some resiliency and push-back in the second and third periods, but we can't expect that every game," said Dailey. "We can't just rely on being resilient and trying to have comebacks. We've got to make sure we're in it from the start."
Eric Ward stopped 23 of 25 shots in relief, while Kruger finished with 20 saves for the Golden Bears.
The teams will meet again on Saturday (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
