Logan Dowhaniuk scored in overtime as the Griffins won 5-4 on Saturday (Trinity Western Spartans photo).
Logan Dowhaniuk scored in overtime as the Griffins won 5-4 on Saturday (Trinity Western Spartans photo).
November 17, 2024

Dowhaniuk plays hero as Griffins beat Spartans 5-4 in OT to complete weekend sweep

Box Score

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

ALDERGROVE, B.C. – After the MacEwan Griffins controlled possession for a large chunk of overtime, Logan Dowhaniuk found himself alone in front after receiving a pass from Kadyn Chabot.

The second-year defenceman calmly sniped it past Trinity Western goaltender Leon Sommer from 10 feet out to lift the Griffins to a 5-4 OT win over the Spartans in Canada West men's hockey action on Saturday night.

Dowhaniuk, who was a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings' 2022 Western Hockey League championship team, has brought his elite two-way defensive play to MacEwan. But he doesn't often get the chance to play hero in overtime.

"He does a lot of really good things for us that don't show up on stats sheets, so when he does get rewarded, it's great," said MacEwan head coach Zack Dailey. 

"It's definitely something he's capable of doing is producing offensively, but he definitely does a lot of little things for our group that don't always get recognized."

Dowhaniuk finished with a goal and an assist, as did Caden Cabana and Vincent Scott as the Griffins won to complete a weekend sweep and improve to 6-5-1 in the Canada West standings. Trinity Western dropped to 2-9-1.

"I talked to the group about how not everything is going to be pretty and go the way we want it to, but regardless of what happens, we have to find a way to be the winning team in the end," said Dailey. "I thought they did a good job of that. There were lots of ups and downs and penalties, powerplays and missed opportunities and they just kept their cool and kept working. 

"It was big for us to get the two points because every point matters, for sure. I'm proud of the group."

A night after winning a wild one 8-5 over the Spartans, the Griffins got involved in another shootout as the teams traded goals throughout the contest.

After Jesse Pomeroy opened the scoring for Trinity Western just 2:50 into the contest, Sean Comrie sifted a point shot past Sommer to tie it less than two minutes later.

Again the Spartans took the lead on Michael Spafford's tally at 7:25 of the second period. And again the Griffins had an almost immediate response as Sam Simard scored less than two minutes later.

Vincent Scott gave MacEwan its first lead of the contest with 2:09 remaining in the middle frame as he chipped home a back door pass from Ethan Mercer.

But Skyler Cameron tied it up for the Spartans just 4:53 into the third.

Cabana tipped Scott's shot past Sommer at 9:32 before Trinity Western responded again, this time off Jake Jurgeneit's stick with 8:28 left.

That was it for the scoring spree until Dowhaniuk won it.

"I will say that the way we scored tonight was traffic and rebounds, so that's something that's going to work no matter what," said Dailey. "I was happy to see that we went to hard areas and got rewarded for it.

"That's where a lot of goals are scored is at the net front, and I thought we did a good job of getting there tonight."

Eric Ward made 18 saves for MacEwan, while Sommer stopped 38 for Trinity Western.

The Griffins next return home for a pair of games vs. Regina on Nov. 22-23.