Griffins aim to model blueprint for success from last Friday's win in home series vs. Trinity Western
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
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1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Team Stats
Trinity Western
| Game Statistics | Trinity Western | MacEwan University |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 0 for 2 | 1 for 3 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 4 (8) | 3 (6) |
| Shots on Goal | 22 | 42 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – They put a blueprint on record for what happens when they're clicking on all cylinders.
Last Friday's 3-1 win over nationally-ranked Mount Royal was exactly what the Griffins men's hockey team is capable of when they choose to put a full 60-minute effort together.
So, that's certainly one to look back on and try to replicate when they host the Trinity Western Spartans for a pair of weekend home games – Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m., both Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).
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"Our biggest thing this year is we want to prepare and play the same way no matter who we're playing," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "Obviously, my goal as a coach is to try and take away the other team's strength, but we're not changing a bunch of stuff. We're going to try and get really good at what we do and what our game plan is, and just roll with that week in and week out.
"We feel if we execute our game plan, it's going to be hard to beat us. So, definitely the blueprint is that Mount Royal game where I thought we were pretty darn good for the whole game. Our task is to try and put that together for two games, not just one."
That didn't happen last weekend, unfortunately, as the Griffins didn't have the same jam in Saturday's rematch in Calgary, falling 6-3.
They enter the weekend third in the West Division at 2-3-1, four points ahead of Trinity Western (0-5-1). But Dailey is cautioning his team not to look at the standings or even the history of their rivalry (MacEwan leads 8-2).
"In the past, we've struggled with teams that are below us in the standings," he said. "I've urged my guys not to look at the standings and where they sit because they've played some really good hockey to start the season. They got points off U of S and were close with U of A. With UBC, they were 2-2 with two minutes left in the game. So, they've played some really good hockey and if we're not ready to go, it's not going to be a successful weekend.
"I've urged our guys to be ready to go right from the hop because this is an improved, good hockey team that we're playing and we need to be at our best if we want to win."
An encouraging sign for the Griffins in their own play is the awakening of their powerplay, which had a slow start to the season. After being blanked with the man advantage through the first two weekends (going 0-for-12), they scored a PPG in each of their last two contests.
"We can always get better," said Dailey. "But I think we're creating a bunch of scoring chances and it was good to see them get rewarded. In practice this week, they looked good, they were snapping it around. Our biggest thing we needed to work on was getting in zone and getting pucks back. I think our setup is fine, we do a good job once we're set up. But it's out working, making sure guys are in the right places and getting pucks back to make sure we're prolonging zone time.
"I thought we did that decently well against Mount Royal, so we're looking to continue that momentum."
