Pair of new goalies bring welcome competition to Griffins' crease in post-Daigle era
Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Just who will have the keys to the crease when the MacEwan Griffins men's hockey team first hits the ice in the Canada West ranks isn't set in stone.
One thing is for certain: the skates won't be easy to fill after Marc-Olivier Daigle graduated from the program after completing his fifth-year of university eligibility in 2019-20.
The decorated Daigle – an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference playoff MVP and two-time goaltender of the year who won MacEwan's male athlete of the year award in 2018-19 – finished four years with the Griffins as the program's career leader in goals against average (2.14), wins (57) and shutouts (seven).
MacEwan's post-Daigle era will feature a three-way competition for starts between returning second-year Thomas Davis and new recruits Ryan Winter and Shawn Parkinson.
Griffins head coach Michael Ringrose is a big believer in healthy competition at such a key spot.
"That's what we're trying to do," he explained. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy to replace a guy like Daigs, but we feel we were able to go out and find a couple of guys who were going to continue to push one another and Tommy to play their best hockey.
"Competition is a powerful tool and it's definitely an asset when you're looking to get the best out of your athletes. We're in a situation here where we feel like we have a bit of a three-headed monster in the pipes and we're just going to take it day by day and see how that plays out."
The 6-foot Winter, who is from Owen Sound, Ont., most recently played in the BCHL at Merritt – a final junior season that was eerily similar to Daigle's last one in the AJHL with Drayton Valley. Both were tasked with holding down the fort on teams that weren't in contention.
"If you take a look at a guy like Marc who just graduated, when he finished his time in Drayton Valley, he was in a similar situation – a goalie who was relied upon to stop a ton of rubber and keep a young, developing team in games on a nightly basis," said Ringrose. "The growth that we saw in his game at the end of his junior career that he carried through to the ACAC level was just incredible. We're hoping history repeats itself and we're excited to see what Ryan can do."
Winter did his best for the 14-40-1-3 Centennials in 2019-20, posting an .892 save percentage over 31 games.
"He played in the BCHL last year and faced a lot of rubber on a team that maybe didn't have the type of defensive year that they wanted to," said Ringrose. "His coach spoke very highly of his ability to make big saves and keep them in hockey games. He's a guy who was relied upon to make key saves a number of different times throughout the game. We expect him to come in and do the same for us. We're excited to add him."
Shawn Parkinson was named MVP of the Melfort Mustangs last season and comes to the Griffins with experience in three different Canadian junior hockey leagues (Broad Leaf Media photo).
The 6-foot-4 Parkinson, who hails from Victoria, B.C., holds a unique resume with experience in three Western Canadian Junior A leagues – BCHL Victoria (2017-18), AJHL Drayton Valley (2018) and SJHL Melfort (2018-20). His numbers last season – 2.36 GAA and .917 save percentage in 44 regular season games led to him being selected MVP of the Mustangs.
"What is most impressive to me were his playoff numbers and his compete when hockey mattered the most," said Ringrose, pointing to two-straight impressive playoff runs with Melfort, both with sub-2.00 GAAs and save percentages of .933 and .927. "If you look not just this year but back the past couple of years, he's a goalie who's proven he can rise to the occasion when the chips are down.
"Watching video over the last couple of years, he's a bigger guy – he's 6-4 – we're certainly very excited to have him on board."
And of course, the incumbent is Davis, who posted promising minutes in limited work as Daigle's backup in 2019-20. He had a 1.59 GAA and .941 save percentage in seven games.
"Between Shawn, Ryan and, obviously, Tommy, we feel we have a platoon that is able to step up and do the job at the U SPORTS level," said Ringrose. "It's going to be competitive in our net, which is exciting. As coaches, we're looking forward to that."
