Trio of ACAC stars join Griffins as they level up to the Canada West ranks
Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Old rivalries were quickly set aside once the final Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season ended for the MacEwan Griffins men's hockey team last March.
In priming his roster for the challenge of being competitive in its first season in the Canada West ranks, head coach Michael Ringrose reached out to his former foes.
Would there be any top ACAC players who would join them as they levelled up to U SPORTS in 2020-21?
The search bore fruit from two of their biggest rivals – the NAIT Ooks (their opponent in three-straight championship finals) and the Red Deer College Kings (whom they needed overtime in the deciding game of the 2018-19 semifinal to dispatch).
As a result of that search, Kings forward Chase Thudium and Ooks defencemen Jordan Davies and Curtis Roach have transferred to MacEwan as the club bolsters its roster in preparation for the rigours of the Canada West experience.
"At the end of the year, we reached out to coaches around the ACAC and had general conversations about the opportunity we could provide moving from the ACAC to U SPORTS," said Ringrose. "We got tremendous support from all of the coaches around the league who were open to their players exploring the opportunity.
"We feel fortunate that Chase, Jordan and Curtis felt like it was a good next step for them in their hockey career."
The trio fit into Ringrose's off-season plan perfectly. After running through the 2019-20 season with 13 first-year players, the Griffins were in need of seasoned veterans.
Thudium led the Kings in scoring the past two seasons, including notching 36 points in 28 contests in 2019-20. Over three seasons with Red Deer College, the Sylvan Lake product recorded 46 goals and 104 points in 91 career games.
"He was an elite forward at the ACAC level," said Ringrose of Thudium, who was named to the ACAC first team all stars in 2018-19 and the second team this past season. "As we were talking about the transition to U SPORTS, he's a guy we identified really early as having the potential to step up that level and have a huge impact immediately.
"If you look at what he's been able to do at RDC the last few years – he's an offensive threat and he's dynamic in a number of different ways with the puck. He puts himself in good spots all over the ice. Between him and (Griffins captain) Cam Gotaas, it gives us two of the top scorers coming out of the ACAC in transition and two very complete players, to boot."
Jordan Davies was one of the ACAC's elite defencemen the last three seasons, making the league's second all-star team in 2018-19 (Railene Hooper, NAIT Ooks).
Current Griffins know well the challenge of going against Sherwood Park's Davies and Saskatoon's Roach in a lightning-charged rivalry between two institutions separated by two LRT stops. Both are adept at controlling the defensive zone, getting the puck up in transition and playing key, gritty minutes when the going gets tough.
"They both are bigger guys who know what it takes to play and compete with U SPORTS level athletes," said Ringrose. "Curtis and Jordan both have great offensive instincts and will help us generate from the blueline but also defend well.
"If you look at what NAIT was able to do over the last couple of years in allowing as few goals as they did, these are two huge pieces from their back end we were able to add. We're excited about our blueline. This makes us a little bit bigger and a little more dynamic offensively – a little bit more ready to handle the speed at the U SPORTS level."
In addition to his reliable defensive zone play, Davies – an ACAC second team all-star in 2018-19 – recorded 12 goals and 60 points in 83 games over three seasons for the Ooks.
Curtis Roach produced 42 points in 55 ACAC games over the past two seasons with NAIT, while also controlling the defensive zone (Railene Hooper, NAIT Ooks).
Roach, who impressively averaged more than a point a game in his final junior season with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, continued a strong pace at the ACAC level with seven goals and 42 points in 55 career games with the Ooks over two seasons.
"They're very similar in the way that they play," noted Ringrose. "Both have very good offensive instincts and both defend really well. We're excited to be adding two pretty complete players to our lineup.
"When we talked about the type of player we wanted to bring in as we made the jump from the ACAC to U SPORTS, we knew we needed to bring in athletes who could compete and play at both ends of the rink. We think all three of those guys demonstrated that they were elite at both ends at the ACAC level and we're looking forward to them helping with the jump to U SPORTS."
